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A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

IN  THE 

NATIONAL   CAPITAL 


Drawing  of  the  First  Unitarian  Church  in  Washington 
Charles  Bulfmch,  Architect 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

IN  THE 

NATIONAL  CAPITAL 

1821—1921 


BY/ 

JENNIE  W.  SCUDDER 

ISSUED  UNDER  THE  AUSPICES  OF  THE  WASHINGTON 
CHAPTER,  UNITARIAN  LAYMEN'S  LEAGUE 


THE  BEACON  PRESS 

BOSTON  MASS. 

1922 


Copyright,   1922, 
BY  JENNIE  W.  SCUDDER 


^11  Rights  Reserved 


FEINTED    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES 


WASHINGTON  CHAPTER 
UNITARIAN  LAYMEN'S  LEAGUE 

OFFICERS 

1920-1921 

J.  C.  Robertson,  President 
T.  M.  Roberts,  Vice-President 
George  Livingston,  Secretary 
J.  J.  LiGHTFOOT,  Treasurer 

1921-1922 

J.  E.  Jones,  President 

A.  M.  Holcombe,  Vice-President 

Laurence  C.  Staples,  Secretary-Treasurer 

1922-1923 

A.  M.  Holcombe,  President 
George  A.  Ricker,  Vice-President 
Laurence  C.  Staples,  Treasurer 
Remick  S.  Ferguson,  Secretary 


PREFACE 

Permission  to  use  in  this  work  any  part  of 
the  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Unitarian  Church 
of  Washington,  D.  C,  written  in  1909  by  me, 
and  copyrighted  by  the  Columbia  Historical 
Society,  District  of  Columbia,  was  granted 
May  16,  1921,  by  Mr.  Allen  C.  Clark,  presi- 
dent of  the  Historical  Society. 

In  the  preparation  of  the  history  I  have 
been  helped,  in  the  matter  of  arrangement, 
by  the  criticisms  and  suggestions  of  Mr.  H. 
Barrett  Learned,  sometime  a  member  of  the 
Department  of  History  of  Stanford  Univer- 
sity.    For  this  help  I  am  very  thankful. 

Mr.  William  L.  Brown  of  the  Library  of 
Congress  gave  me  the  benefit  of  thoughtful 
criticism  worthy  the  gratitude  I  here  express. 

I  have  to  thank  the  Rev.  F.  C.  Southworth, 
President  of  Meadville  Theological  School, 
for  information  concerning  several  of  the  early 
ministers  of  the  Unitarian  church  of  Wash- 
ington. 

To  Harold  H.  Scudder,  Associate  Professor 
[vii] 


PREFACE 

of  English  in  the  New  Hampshire  State  Col- 
lege, I  am  gratefully  indebted  for  revision  of 
English  and  style. 

In  the  publication  of  the  history  I  have  been 
guided  and  assisted  in  the  various  essentials 
by  Mr.  John  E.  Jones,  President  (1921)  of  the 
Washington  Chapter  of  the  Unitarian  Lay- 
men's League.  He  has  spared  no  pains  in 
aiding  the  author  and  in  helping  her  to  see 
the  volume  through  the  press. 

Other  indebtedness  I  have  acknowledged  in 
the  course  of  narration. 

Jennie  W.  Scudder. 
Washington,  May  11,  1922. 


[viii] 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  TASa 

I  The   First  Church  Founded    ....  1 

II  Prominent  Members 10 

III  The  Struggle  for  Life 25 

IV  Ministers  of  the  First  Church   ...  36 
V  The  Shadow  of  Slavery 49 

VI  The  Church  in  the   Civil  War    ...  63 

VII  Reconstruction  Period 72 

VIII  All  Souls  Church 78 

IX  Civic   and   Denominational   Activities    .  90 

X  Heirlooms 105 

XI  National  Adherents 112 

XII  The  New  All  Souls 122 

XIII  Ministers  of  All  Souls  Church  .      .      .135 

Appendix 145 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Architect's     Drawing     of     the     First     Unitarian 

Church Frontispiece 

The  First  Unitarian  Church,  1822 9 

Excerpt  from  Report  of  the  Reverend  Robert  Little  27 

The  Reverend  Rush   R.  Shippen 43 

The  Reverend  E.  Bradford  Leavitt 59 

All  Souls  Church,  1877 79 

The  Reverend  Clay  MacCauley 91 

Facsimile    of    Title    Page    of    Mr.    Little's    Hymn 

Book 107 

Architects'    Drawing    of    All    Souls    Church    and 
Edward  Everett  Hale  Memorial  Parish  House, 

1922 129 

The  Reverend  Ulysses  G.  B.  Pierce 139 


A  Century  of  Unitarianism 
in  the  National  Capital 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  FIRST  CHURCH  FOUNDED 

On  November  11,  1921,  the  Unitarian 
Church  of  Washington,  D.  C,  became  one 
hundred  years  old.  It  was  organized  on  No- 
vember 11,  1821,  as  the  "First  Unitarian 
Church,"  and  retained  that  designation  fifty- 
six  years.  This  organization  was  effected  by 
a  small  congregation,  which  began  to  meet  in 
1820  in  a  room  over  some  pubhc  baths  on  C 
Street,  between  Four  and  One  Half  and  Sixth 
Streets  N.  W.,  to  listen  to  the  preaching  of 
Robert  Little.  This  congregation  consisted 
of  some  of  the  most  intelligent  and  cultivated 
families  of  the  young  capital.  Several  had 
been  drawn  to  Unitarianism  by  the  preaching 
of  Edward  Everett  in  the  hall  of  the  House 
of  Representatives ;  some  were  associated  with 
the  government  of  the  new  republic,  while 

[1] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

others  were  English  people  who  had  been  Uni- 
tarians in  their  native  land  and  friends,  there 
as  here,  of  Dr.  Joseph  Priestley. 

Mr.  Little,  himself,  was  one  of  these.  He 
had  experienced  the  injustice,  both  social  and 
political,  which  England  then  inflicted  upon 
dissenters.  To  escape  this  he  had  come  to 
America  and  had  become,  according  to  some 
accounts,  a  merchant  in  Washington  and,  ac- 
cording to  others,  a  clerk  in  governmental  em- 
ployment. His  preaching  had  attracted  some 
notice  in  England,  especially  a  sermon  deliv- 
ered in  Birmingham  entitled  The  Decline  and 
Fall  of  Spiritual  Babylon,  which  dealt  with 
the  unjust  treatment  of  dissenters. 

Knowing  these  things  of  him,  it  was  natural 
that  the  little  company  who  wished  to  exercise 
their  privilege  of  freedom  in  religious  worship 
should  think  of  him,  and  thus  began  the  meet- 
ings on  C  Street.  Opposed  to  any  connection 
between  church  and  state,  they  yet  wanted  a 
faith  that  should  express  the  democratic  idea 
in  religion  as  the  new  government  expressed 
it  in  politics.  This  they  found  in  Unitarian- 
ism.  The  desire  and  need  for  a  more  positive 
assertion  of  the  new  religious  idea  grew,  and  a 
meeting  was  called  for  July  31,  1820,  to  con- 
sider the  matter.     Notice  of  the  calling  of  the 

[2] 


THE  FIRST  CHURCH  FOUNDED 

meeting,  and  of  its  proceedings,  was  made  in 
the  local  papers,  which  reported  that  on  mo- 
tion of  William  Eliot  it  was 

"RESOLVED,  That  it  is  expedient  that 
measures  be  taken  for  erecting  a  church  upon 
Unitarian  principles  in  the  city  of  Wash- 
ington ;  and  also  that  a  meeting  be  held  August 
6th,  to  concert  measures  for  carrying  into  ef- 
fect the  above  resolution." 

Several  months  passed  before  a  working 
plan  was  developed  by  which  to  try  to  attain 
their  common  desire.  Mr.  Little  wrote  to 
Jared  Sparks,  then  the  Unitarian  minister  in 
Baltimore:  "I  am  going  on  in  much  weak- 
ness, fear,  and  trembling,  preaching  to  our  fel- 
low citizens  and  others,  and  the  numbers  of 
respectable  hearers  increase."  Some  of  the 
congregation  thought  that  Mr.  Little  ought  to 
withdraw  from  business  so  as  to  give  more 
time  to  the  church-building  project.  This  he 
did  not  feel  financially  able  to  do,  and  he 
doubted  the  wisdom  of  such  action  until  the 
congregation  became  larger  and  more  zealous. 
Finally  it  was  decided,  as  he  again  wrote  to 
Sparks:  "to  form  a  Society  on  Unitarian 
principles  and  to  maintain  regular  worship  an- 
tecedently to  the  building  of  a  church.  Ac- 
cordingly a  subscription  has  been  offered  of 

[3] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

from  ten  to  twenty  dollars  each  per  annum  for 
this  purpose,  and  one  or  two  families  have  with- 
drawn from  the  Presbyterian  Church  to  join 
us.  Last  Sunday  we  had  several  members  of 
Congress  and  several  fresh  faces  from  the 
stated  residents  of  our  city." 

Probably  because  of  this  subscription,  Mr. 
Little  was  able  to  give  more  attention  to  the 
affair  in  hand,  as  he  went  to  New  England  in 
May,  1821,  to  solicit  money  therefor.  In  this 
instance,  a  task  unpleasant  by  its  very  nature 
was  made  more  so  by  intimation  that  his  com- 
ing on  such  an  errand  would  be  displeasing  to 
congregations  and  embarrassing  to  ministers. 
Discouraging  as  the  prospect  was,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  a  measure  and  was  able  to  write  to 
Mr.  Sparks  in  October,  1821:  "I  now  enter- 
tain no  doubt  of  ultimate  success,  and  the 
sister  churches  of  Baltimore  and  Washington 
may  hereafter  be  mutually  useful  to  each  other 
as  well  as  to  the  Southern  States  generally. 
We  received  three  hundred  dollars  more  from 
Boston  a  few  weeks  since  and  I  believe  they 
have  a  little  more  in  reserve  there." 

In  Providence,  R.  I.,  Mr.  Little  preached 
three  times  on  one  Sunday  and  was  given  one 
hundred  dollars  toward  the  building  fund. 
The  letter  already  quoted  expressed  his  satis- 

[41 


THE  FIRST  CHURCH  FOUNDED 

faction  at  the  increase  of  numbers  in  atten- 
dance at  the  meetings,  and  the  "distinguished 
respectabihty"  of  the  individuals.  It  enu- 
merated the  difficulties  under  which  he  had 
labored  in  the  way  of  personal  matters — his 
change  of  employment  and  lack  of  books — and 
expressed  his  gratitude  at  having  been  able  to 
accomplish  so  much  in  spite  of  all. 

On  November  11,  1821,  the  first  step  was 
taken  toward  the  goal  when  the  congregation 
organized  as  a  church,  adopted  a  constitution 
and  made  Mr.  Little  minister.  The  number 
of  members  is  variously  given,  the  maximum 
being  twenty-seven.  All  accounts  include  the 
names  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  John  C.  Cal- 
houn, William  Winston  Seaton,  Joseph  Gales, 
Sr.,  and  Joseph  Gales,  Jr.,  William  G.  Ehot, 
Charles  Bulfinch,  John  F.  Webb,  C.  S. 
Fowler  and  Judge  William  Cranch,  all  now 
well  known  in  denominational,  local  and  na- 
tional history. 

The  church  records  give  also  the  names  of 
JNIoses  Poor,  D.  F.  May,  N.  P.  Poor,  Noah 
Fletcher,  Richard  Wallach,  Robert  Little, 
Seth  Hyatt,  C.  Andrews,  S.  Robinson,  Pishey 
Thompson,  Thomas  Bates,  A.  B.  Waller, 
Thomas  C.  Wright,  M.  Claxton,  S.  Franklin, 
William  Cooper  and  P.  Mauro. 

[5] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

The  church  was  not  established  without 
some  excitement  in  orthodox  circles  which 
found  expression  in  magazine  and  newspaper 
articles.  These  were  answered  and  the  cause 
defended  by  Jared  Sparks.  Lately  ordained  by 
Channing,  in  Baltimore,  whose  sermon  on  the 
occasion  of  May  5,  1819,  had  cleared  the  the- 
ological atmosphere  and  made  plain  the  schism 
in  the  Congregational  body,  Sparks  was  a  fit- 
ting herald  of  Unitarianism  in  the  South. 
With  the  enthusiasm  of  youth  but  the 
judgment  of  maturity,  he  asserted  its 
principles  with  vigor  and  defended  them  with 
ability.  The  magazine.  Unitarian  Miscel- 
lany, which  he  edited,  supplemented  his  pulpit. 
In  it  he  often  had  an  explanatory  or  an  en- 
couraging or  a  complimentary  word  for  the 
struggling  Unitarian  congregation  and  its 
minister  in  the  neighboring  city.  When  finan- 
cial help  was  asked  for  the  new  venture. 
Sparks  preached  a  suitable  sermon  from  the 
text,  Isaiah  xli.  6:  "They  helped  every  one 
his  brother  and  every  one  said  to  his  brother  'Be 
of  good  cheer,'  "  with  the  result  of  a  collec- 
tion of  one  hundred  and  fifty-one  dollars  and 
eighty-one  cents. 

After  coming  to  Washington  as  Chaplain 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  in  1821,  Mr. 

[6] 


THE  FIRST  CHURCH  FOUNDED 

Sparks,  during  an  illness  of  Mr.  Little, 
preached  every  other  Sunday  to  the  congre- 
gation in  the  "upper  room."  His  kindness  to 
^Ir.  Little  was  the  beautiful  tribute  of  youth 
to  age,  for  Mr.  Little  was  no  longer  young. 
It  later  appeared  that  Sparks  more  clearly 
than  any  one  else  outside  Washington  realized 
the  need  and  the  possible  value  to  denomin- 
ation and  to  country  of  a  Unitarian  church  at 
the  seat  of  government. 

On  June  9,  1822,  a  church  building  for  use 
by  the  new  society  was  dedicated.  On  this  oc- 
casion, the  sermon  by  Mr.  Little  ended  thus: 
"These  walls  I  trust  will  bear  witness  that  our 
lives  have  not  been  altogether  useless  to  man- 
kind. Some,  I  hope,  may  be  better  and  wiser 
for  our  exertions  in  the  cause  of  truth.  If 
not  in  an  obvious  and  direct  manner,  yet  in 
some  effectual  way,  may  we  have  served  our 
generation,  and  promoted  the  knowledge,  the 
service  and  the  will  of  the  one  true  God."  Of 
this  event  Mrs.  Seaton  wrote  to  her  father, 
Joseph  Gales,  Sr. :  "The  Unitarian  Church 
has  been  dedicated  with  all  the  solemnity  and 
simplicity  characterizing  the  profession  of  its 
members.  Mr.  Little's  discourse  was  irresis- 
tibly forcible  and  pathetic,  his  impressive  man- 
ner adding  to  its  exceeding  interest.     There 

[7] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

were  upwards  of  four  hundred  persons  pres- 
ent." 

The  building  stood  on  the  corner  of  Sixth 
and  D  Streets,  then  considered  a  convenient 
and  suitable  location.  It  was  designed  by 
the  famous  architect,  Charles  Bulfinch,  and 
marked,  at  the  time  of  its  completion,  a  de- 
cided advance  in  architectural  excellence  in 
this  city.  It  served  its  purpose  as  a  Unitarian 
church  for  fifty-five  years.  The  original  Bul- 
finch drawings  of  the  First  Church  are  in  the 
possession  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology.  A  picture  of  the  church  has 
lately  been  supplied  to  that  institution. 

An  item  in  the  Washington  News  of  Au- 
gust 10,  1850,  referred  to  the  Unitarian 
Church,  then  twenty-eight  years  old  and  un- 
dergoing repairs,  as  follows: 

"They  are  giving  this  edifice  a  new  dress. 
The  old  was  full  of  rents  and  patches.  We 
think  there  is  no  better  site  for  a  church  in  the 
city  than  this;  nor  indeed  is  there  a  prettier 
church.  Its  architecture  is  so  simple,  its  di- 
mensions not  large  and  yet  we  always  like  to 
see  it.  So  calmly  it  stands  there  on  its  bright 
elevation  looking  over  a  great  part  of  the  city 
and  then  surrounded  by  the  old  sentinel  pop- 
lars— we  love  it  dearly.     Part  of  this  love  may 

[8] 


THE  FIRST  CHURCH  FOUNDED 

be  due  to  the  recollection  of  our  boyhood  when 
the  Unitarian  Church  was  indeed  an  important 
edifice,  for  we  had  but  two  or  three  other  places 
of  worship  in  those  days,  and  that  bell  used  to 
tell  the  service  hour  to  all  in  the  neighborhood, 
being  the  only  bell  within  a  mile  or  so.  The 
stuccoing  of  the  walls  and  pillars  wanted  re- 
pair badly  and  so  did  the  steeple.  This  is  now 
being  done  by  our  townsman,  Mr.  C.  Gill. 
The  building  is  very  conspicuous  and  will, 
when  restored,  be  a  pleasant  and  picturesque 
object." 


[9] 


CHAPTER  II 

PROMINENT  MEMBERS 

The  First  Church  was  distinctive  in  that  it 
was  from  the  beginning  Unitarian  and  not  an 
orthodox  society  hberalized.  It  ranks  among 
the  earhest  churches  with  this  distinction; 
those  of  Baltimore,  Maryland,  and  Charleston, 
South  Carolina,  having  been  founded  in  1817, 
while  the  first  Unitarian  church  in  New  York 
City  was  dedicated  only  six  months  before 
that  of  Washington.  To  Philadelphia  belongs 
the  honor  of  having  built  and  dedicated  the 
first  church  in  America  for  Unitarian  wor- 
ship. Among  the  workers  toward  that  end 
was  Joseph  Gales,  Sr.,  whose  name  is  found 
among  the  original  members  of  the  First 
Church  of  Washington. 

Mr.  Gales  had  been  obliged  to  leave  Eng- 
land because  of  his  liberal  political  ideas,  sac- 
rificing thereby  his  well  established  business 
of  publisher,  bookseller  and  editor  of  the  Shef- 
field Register  in  the  city  of  that  name.     His 

[10] 


PROMINENT  MEMBERS 

religious  ideas  were  no  less  liberal  and  unpop- 
ular. 

Possessed  of  a  discretion  which  might  have 
averted  such  a  crisis,  Mr.  Gales  became  the 
victim  of  the  indiscretion  of  an  employe  who 
wrote  seditious  letters  from  his  publishing 
house.  JNIoreover  the  attention  of  the  govern- 
ment became  fixed  upon  the  establishment  be- 
cause of  its  suspicion  that  Thomas  Paine's 
works  were  published  and  sold  there.  This 
suspicion  was  not  groundless.  Fortunately 
for  Mr.  Gales,  the  King's  Messengers  called 
to  investigate  while  he  was  away  from  home, 
with  no  worse  result  than  the  suggestion  to 
ISIrs.  Gales,  who  had  received  them  with  great 
tact,  that  it  would  be  well  if  her  husband  were 
to  remain  away  until  the  times  were  more  set- 
tled. This  leniency  was  avowedly  shown  be- 
cause of  the  high  opinion  in  which  even  his  po- 
litical enemies  held  Mr.  Gales.  Seeing  the 
ruin  of  his  business  and  probable  imprison- 
ment in  the  near  future  if  he  returned  to  Shef- 
field, he  left  England  for  Germany,  where  he 
awaited  the  arrival  of  his  family  and  whence 
they  sailed  for  Philadelphia  in  1795.  In  that 
city  he  was  met  by  Dr.  Priestley,  his  personal 
friend  and  fellow  exile,  and  later  they  worked 

[11] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

together  in  bringing  Unitarianism  before  the 
pubhe.  Congress  was  then  in  session  there 
and,  as  Mr.  Gales  had  found  employment  in 
a  newspaper  office,  he  was  asked  to  make  a  re- 
port of  a  day's  proceedings  of  that  body. 
This  he  was  able  to  do  verbatim  by  means  of 
stenography,  greatly  to  the  surprise  of  his 
employer  and  of  members  of  Congress.  This 
event  was  the  beginning  of  a  successful  career 
in  America.  He  bought  a  newspaper  in 
Philadelphia,  but  later  disposed  of  it  and 
went,  at  the  solicitation  of  members  from 
North  Carolina,  to  Raleigh  in  that  state. 
There  he  established  the  Raleigh  Register,  be- 
came printer  for  the  state,  and  trained  in 
journalism  the  two  men  who  were  to  become 
moulders  of  public  opinion  in  the  capital  of 
the  new  nation — Joseph  Gales,  Jr.,  and  Wil- 
liam Winston  Seaton. 

The  elder  Gales,  in  his  last  years  retiring 
from  business  one  of  the  most  honored  citizens 
of  his  state,  came  to  Washington  and  was  in- 
terested in  the  management  of  the  African 
Colonization  Society.  He  died  in  Raleigh, 
North  Carolina.  He  was  born  in  Eckington, 
England. 

While  his  father  is  counted  as  a  member  of 
the  First  Church  of  Washington,  Joseph 
[12] 


PROMINENT  MEMBERS 

Gales,  Jr.,  was  more  closely  identified  with 
that  organization.  He  was  the  worthy  son 
of  a  noble  father,  whose  principles  and  ex- 
ample he  made  his  own  with  the  result  of  a 
life  equally  rich  in  "true  things  truly  done." 
He  came  to  Washington  as  assistant  to  the 
editor  and  proprietor  of  the  paper  which  later 
became  his  own,  and  began  daily  reporting  of 
Congi-essional  debates,  which  was  a  feature 
of  the  paper  for  many  years.  Such  was  the 
vigor  and  inspiration  which  he  gave  to  the  pa- 
per that  within  two  years  he  was  a  partner  in 
its  management,  and  in  another  j^ear  its  sole 
editor  and  owner. 

The  cumbrous  title  of  National  Intelligencer 
and  Washington  Advertiser  was  curtailed,  be- 
coming the  National  Intelligencer.  From  the 
first,  INIr.  Gales  asserted  his  purpose  of  main- 
taining and  preserving  inviolate  the  independ- 
ence of  the  paper  and  the  right  of  following  the 
unbiased  convictions  of  his  own  judgment. 

With  him  was  soon  associated  his  brother- 
in-law,  William  Winston  Seaton,  who,  no 
more  nor  less  firmly  based  upon  right  princi- 
ples than  Gales,  was  perhaps  more  brilliant  in 
word  and  deed  and  more  of  a  politician.  This 
association  was  closer  than  that  of  most  broth- 
ers. They  had  "no  bickerings,  no  misunder- 
[13J 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

standings  nor  differences  of  view  that  a  con- 
sultation did  not  at  once  reconcile;  they  knew 
no  division  of  interests ;  from  a  common  coffer 
each  drew  what  he  chose." 

Mr.  Seaton  was  a  Virginian  of  Scotch  de- 
scent. He  was  educated  by  tutors,  and  in  the^ 
schools  of  Richmond,  especially  at  the  cele- 
brated Ogilvie  Academy  there.  After  editor- 
ial experience  in  several  southern  towns,  he 
had  gone  to  Raleigh  to  take  a  place  on  the 
Register  and  there  began  his  relation  to  the 
Gales  family  when  he  married  Sarah  Gales. 
He  became  a  Unitarian,  though  he  always  re- 
tained a  love  of  the  forms  of  the  Episcopal 
service,  and  with  his  wife  was  a  member  of  the 
First  Church  in  Washington.  JNIr.  Seaton  was 
for  twelve  successive  years  Mayor  of  Washing- 
ton. He  was  the  intimate  friend  of  Daniel 
Webster  and  knew  well  most  of  the  celebrated 
men  of  his  time.  He  was  not  only  the  friend 
of  those  in  high  position,  but  of  the  poor  and 
unfortunate  as  well. 

The  opinion  in  which  contemporaries  held 
Messrs.  Gales  and  Seaton  is  shown  in  an  ar- 
ticle in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  of  December, 
1860,  shortly  before  death  severed  their  part- 
nership. It  says  of  the  paper  which  was  their 
mouthpiece:  "There  has  in  all  our  times 
[14] 


PROMINENT  MEMBERS 

shone  no  such  continual  hght  on  pubhc  affairs; 
there  has  stood  no  such  sure  defense  of  what- 
ever was  needful  to  be  upheld;  tempering  the 
heats  of  both  sides,  renationalizing  all  spirit  of 
section;  combating  our  propensity  to  lawless- 
ness at  home  and  aggression  abroad ;  spreading 
constantly  on  each  question  of  the  day  a  mass 
of  sound  information  the  venerable  editors 
have  been  all  the  while  a  power  of  safety  in 
the  land,  no  matter  who  were  the  rulers." 

Of  these  great  citizens  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  there  remains  there  today  no  sug- 
gestion except  in  the  name  of  "Eckington" 
given  to  a  suburb  grown  up  about  the  Gales 
estate  and  in  the  designation  of  two  school 
buildings  and  that  of  two  minor  streets. 

That  the  association  of  these  high-minded 
men  with  the  cause  of  liberal  religion  in  its 
early  days  in  the  National  Capital  may  be  a 
little  better  known  to  local  and  national  Uni- 
tarians, is  one  reason  for  its  extended  mention. 
Joseph  Gales,  Sr.,  is  represented  today  by  de- 
scendants in  All  Souls  Church. 

As  given  in  the  list  of  original  members  of 
the  First  Church,  the  names  of  John  Quincy 
Adams  and  John  C.  Calhoun  speak  for  them- 
selves as  to  character  and  social  position,  both 
at  that  time  officials  in  the  cabinet  of  Presi- 
[15] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITAMANISM 

dent  Monroe.  Mr.  Calhoun  is  said  to  have 
remarked,  when  making  his  contribution  to- 
ward the  building  of  the  First  Church,  that 
"Unitarianism  is  the  true  faith  and  must 
ultimately  prevail  over  the  world." 

One  of  the  most  illustrious  names  on  the 
register  of  the  First  Unitarian  Church  is  that 
of  Judge  William  Cranch.  He  had  come  to 
Washington  a  young  lawyer  in  1794  before 
the  city  could  furnish  homes  for  all  who  wanted 
them.  Therefore  he  made  Alexandria,  then 
a  part  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  his  dwell- 
ing place  for  several  years.  He  was  fifty- 
two  years  old  when  the  church  was  organized. 
He  did  not  come  into  it  through  conversion 
but  through  inheritance.  He  was  simply 
making  public  profession  of  the  faith  which 
had  thus  far  inspired  his  well  ordered  life  and 
with  him  antedated  Channing  and  his  famous 
pronunciamento. 

Judge  Cranch  was  a  relative  and  had  been 
a  playmate  of  John  Quincy  Adams.  To- 
gether they  had  heard  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence read  in  Boston  by  Sheriff  William 
Greenleaf,  interrupting  their  boyish  play  for 
that  purpose.  To  Adams  came  the  brilhant 
career  of  diplomat,  cabinet  officer  and  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States;  to  Cranch  the  se- 
[16] 


PROMINENT  MEMBERS 

date  practice  of  the  law,  culminating  in  1805 
in  his  appointment  by  President  Jefferson  as 
Chief  Judge  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia.  It  was  an  interesting  coin- 
cidence in  his  life  that  when  twenty-six  years 
old  he  should  marry  the  daughter  of  Sheriff 
Greenleaf,  the  man  whom  he  had  heard  read 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  when 
thirty-six  should  be  made  Judge  by  the  author 
of  that  Declaration. 

Judge  Cranch  suffers  not  at  all  in  compar- 
ison with  the  notable  men  who  were  associated 
with  him  in  the  new  religious  enterprise  of 
1821.  It  has  been  said  of  him  that  nature 
must  have  intended  him  for  a  judge,  so  per- 
fectly had  she  endowed  him  for  that  calling. 
He  had  great  love  of  order  and  of  clearness; 
he  delighted  in  straightening  out  puzzling  con- 
ditions. His  perception  in  matters  of  the 
law  was  keen  and  certain.  He  was  by  nature 
serious.  Pie  read  the  English  classics  and  was 
fond  of  poetry.  He  was  a  hard  worker  and 
gave  ten  hours  a  day  for  sixty  years  to  the 
requirements  of  his  position.  His  recreations 
were  walking,  playing  chess  and  music.  He 
delighted  in  nature  and  in  sculpture  and  paint- 
ing. It  is  significant  that  three  of  his  sons 
were  artists  and  all  were  men  of  fine  tastes. 
[17] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

His  clear  mind  no  doubt  helped  solve  many  of 
the  problems  that  continually  puzzled  the 
First  Church,  and  perhaps  sometimes  antici- 
pated its  proper  course.  It  is  known  that  he 
wrote  Dr.  Channing  of  the  financial  condition 
of  the  church  after  Mr.  Little's  death,  and  it 
was  he  who  arranged  for  a  fitting  funeral  ser- 
mon in  Washington  in  memory  of  the  first 
minister.  His  love  of  sacred  music  led  him 
to  take  an  active  part  in  the  musical  service  of 
the  church  for  many  years.  It  is  related  that 
on  one  occasion  when  the  organist  failed  to  at- 
tend the  service.  Judge  Cranch — then  with 
flowing  white  hair — rose  from  his  pew,  went 
into  the  choir  and  played  all  the  music.  At 
the  organization  of  the  American  Unitarian 
Association  in  1825,  Judge  Cranch  was  made 
a  Vice-President,  and  he  was  one  of  the  board 
of  trustees  of  the  first  public  school  in  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia. 

William  G.  Eliot  was  a  merchant  and  ship- 
owner of  New  Bedford,  Mass.,  whom  the  em- 
bargo previous  to  the  war  of  1812  forced  out 
of  business  into  a  government  position  in 
Washington.  Here  for  thirty-five  years  he 
was  chief  examiner  in  the  auditing  office  of 
the  Post  Office  Department.  He  resigned 
that  office  in  1853  and  died  in  Washington  the 

[18] 


pro:mixent  members 

next  year.  He  was  a  man  of  culture  and  re- 
finement and  at  some  sacrifice  gave  to  his 
children  the  best  education  attainable.  To 
this  end,  he  bought  a  certificate  of  scholarship 
in  Columbian  College  for  which  he  paid 
$134.16.  This  certificate  entitled  its  owner 
to  twenty  years'  school  tuition.  Columbian 
College  has  developed  into  the  George  Wash- 
ington Universit}^  but  the  change  in  name  is 
not  more  marked  probably  than  that  in  its 
schedule  of  prices. 

Of  Mr.  Eliot's  part  in  the  hfe  of  the  First 
Church,  the  records  have  this  to  say  at  the  time 
when  he  thought  best  to  resign  the  position  in 
its  management  which  he  had  held  for  many 
years.  Just  what  that  position  was,  is  not 
stated. 

"His  colleagues  desire  in  his  absence  to  ex- 
press their  deepest  thankfulness  and  gratitude 
on  their  own  part  and  that  of  the  church  for 
the  untiring  interest,  the  most  open-hearted 
liberality  which  he  has  always  manifested;  and 
to  express  their  sincere  conviction  that  the 
prosperity  of  the  church  has  been  greatly  in- 
debted to  him  not  only  for  the  wise  counsels  he 
has  given,  the  energy  he  has  inspired,  the 
cheerfulness  he  has  imparted  in  its  darkest 
hours,  but  more  especially  for  the  pure  and 
unswerving  rectitude  of  his  private  life." 

[19] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

Mr.  Eliot  is  of  interest  to  all  Unitarians  as 
the  father  of  William  G.  Eliot,  Jr.  This  son, 
though  born  in  New  England,  lived  in  Wash- 
ington from  his  eleventh  to  his  twenty-first 
year  and  was  one  of  the  youthful  members  of 
the  congregation  of  the  First  Church.  He 
graduated  from  Columbian  College  in  1830, 
and  after  a  year  as  government  employe  went 
to  the  Harvard  Divinity  School  for  three  years. 
He  was  ordained  as  an  Evangelist  and  went 
to  St.  Louis  as  a  pioneer  preacher,  there  to 
enter  upon  a  career  which  brought  him  en- 
during local  and  national  fame.  Mr.  Eliot, 
during  the  Civil  War,  was  the  organizer  and 
active  supporter  of  the  Western  Sanitary 
Commission,  was  founder  of  Washington  Uni- 
versity in  St.  Louis,  and  deserves  more  than 
any  one  else  to  be  called  the  father  of  the  pub- 
lic school  system  of  Missouri. 

Charles  Bulfinch  came  to  Washington  as 
architect  of  the  Capitol  in  1818,  two  years  be- 
fore the  little  band  of  liberals  began  their  Sun- 
day meetings  in  the  "long  room"  over  the 
public  baths.  At  that  time  several  families  of 
Unitarians  attended  St.  John's  Church,  to 
whose  building  some  of  them  had  contributed. 
There  the  Bulfinches  went  for  a  while  and  of 
their  first  Sunday  Mr.  Bulfinch  wrote: 
[20] 


PROMINENT  MEMBERS 

*'We  have  attended  once  at  the  new  church 
near  the  President's  house,  a  very  beautiful 
building.  This  church  is  frequented  by  the 
genteelest  society  of  the  place.  It  is  furnished 
with  an  organ,  the  only  one  here,  but  the 
preacher  is  so  violent  in  expressing  his  condem- 
nation of  all  of  different  tenets  from  his  own 
that  our  townsman,  John  JNIason,  Esq.,  re- 
quested one  of  the  Wardens  to  endeavor  to 
control  his  zeal  or  at  least  the  harshness  of  his 
expressions." 

Later,  when  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bulfinch  had  be- 
come known  in  the  community  and  were  still 
attendants  at  that  church,  the  rector  made 
Unitarians  the  special  object  of  his  attack, 
much  to  the  dismay  of  some  of  the  communi- 
cants who  expected,  as  they  said,  to  see  the 
Bulfinches  leave  the  church.  His  animosity 
toward  Unitarians  did  not  prevent  this 
doughty  theologian  from  consulting  Bulfinch 
in  regard  to  plans  for  enlarging  St.  John's. 

Soon  after  coming  to  Washington  Mr.  Bul- 
finch, in  a  letter  to  a  Boston  friend,  mentioned 
under  the  head  of  the  inconveniences  of  life 
in  Washington  that  there  were  "a  number  of 
places  of  public  worship  of  various  denomin- 
ations, but  all  agreeing  in  circulating  the  most 
trinitarian  and  Calvinistic  opinions."  It  was 
quite  natural  that  he  should  desire  a  more  con- 
[21] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

genial  religious  environment  and  he  was  soon 
actively  interested  in  the  organization  of  a  Uni- 
tarian Society  and  the  building  of  a  church. 
That  Bulfinch  drev7  the  plans  of  the  First 
Church  is  well  known,  but  his  part  in  rousing 
public  opinion  in  its  favor  in  the  north  is  not 
so  well  known.  This  active  interest  is  shown 
in  a  letter  to  his  brother-in-law,  Joseph  Cool- 
idge,  wherein  he  said: 

"I  have  lately  written  to  P.  O.  Thacher 
chiefly  on  the  subject  of  a  church  commencing 
here  on  liberal  principles.  We  look  for  as- 
sistance from  your  quarter  and  shall  soon 
make  our  appeal  to  Boston  generosity  and 
have  no  fear  that  it  will  be  in  vain." 

It  is  pleasing  to  know  that  Mr.  Coolidge  re- 
sponded as  desired.  In  January,  1820,  he 
wrote  again : 

"Last  evening  the  committee  on  the  new 
church  met  and  requested  me  to  write  to 
Boston  for  advice  as  to  the  best  methods  of  ob- 
taining assistance.  I  shall  address  a  letter  in 
a  few  days  to  Rev.  F.  Parkman  on  the  subject. 
He  knows  our  circumstances  here  better  than 
any  other  of  our  clergy." 

In  the  Life  and  Letters  of  Charles  Bulfinch 
there  are  given  no  details  of  the  building  of 
[22] 


PROMINENT  MEMBERS 

the  church  under  his  guidance,  but  that  the 
welfare  of  the  Society  was  always  of  impor- 
tance to  hini  is  shown.  Mrs.  Bulfinch,  in  writ- 
ing to  her  son  Stephen,  then  at  the  Harvard 
Divinity  School,  gave  this  intimate  picture: 

*'Dec.  16,  1827.  We  have  witnessed  today 
the  first  baptismal  ceremony  ever  performed 
in  our  church.  Mrs.  Poor  with  her  two  chil- 
dren and  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Webb,  with  two 
infants  came  forward  to  the  table  and  a  short 
ceremony  and  prayer  followed." 

Miss  Charlotte  EHzabeth  Webb,  who  died 
in  Washington  in  1921,  aged  ninety-four  years, 
daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  W.  Webb, 
was  doubtless  one  of  the  children  here  men- 
tioned. The  ceremony  was  performed  by  Mr. 
Mott,  who  supplied  the  pulpit  for  a  time  after 
Mr.  Little's  death. 

In  a  letter  to  another  son,  just  before  their 
removal  from  Washington  to  Boston  in  1829, 
Mrs.  Bulfinch  wrote: 

"The  church  is  one  of  those  concerns  we 
wish  to  leave  settled  and  prosperous  whenever 
we  take  our  departure." 

They  left  Washington  in  1829,  to  return  in 
1838  to  spend  two  years  with  their  youngest 
[23] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIAN  ISM 

son,  Stephen  Greenleaf  Bulfinch,  who  was  then 
minister  of  the  church  in  which  they  had  been 
so  interested. 


[24] 


CHAPTER  III 

THE   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIFE 

Mr.  Little's  pastorate  lasted  about  six  years. 
He  died  at  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania,  whither 
he  had  gone  for  a  visit  and  where  he  was  bur- 
ied, in  1827.  Mr.  Little  had  a  reputation  for 
eloquence  which  attracted  many  outside  the 
congregation,  even  those  of  high  degree.  Mrs. 
Seaton  in  a  letter  to  her  parents  in  1824,  said: 

"Lafaj^ette  goes  with  us  next  Sunday  to  the 
Unitarian  Church,  being  desirous  of  hearing 
Mr.  Little  of  whose  fervid  eloquence  he  has 
heard  so  much." 

He  was  several  times  asked  by  the  Speaker 
of  the  House  to  preach  in  the  hall  of  the  House 
of  Representatives.  On  one  of  these  occasions 
he  spoke  on  "Religious  Liberty  and  Unita- 
rianism  Vindicated,"  and  at  another  time  on 
"The  Duty  of  Public  Usefulness."  A  copy 
of  this  latter  sermon  may  be  read  at  the  Li- 
brary of  Congress,  and  the  former  may  be 
[25] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

found  in  the  library  of  All  Souls  Church.  He 
was  not  averse  to  the  discussion  of  current  top- 
ics in  his  pulpit,  and  once  delivered  a  sermon 
which  was  spoken  of  thirty-eight  years  after- 
ward, by  Mr.  Seaton,  as  "a  grand  sermon,  de- 
picting with  prophetic  force  the  evils  of  Gen- 
eral Jackson's  election."  He  evidently  had 
a  diversity  of  gifts,  being  devoted  to  literature 
and  natural  science.  He  was  editor  during  its 
brief  existence  of  the  Washington  Quarterly 
Magazine,  which  was  devoted  apparently  to 
whatever  promoted  the  agricultural,  commer- 
cial and  manufacturing  interests  of  the  coun- 
try. It  was  earnest  in  advocating  the  cutting 
of  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Canal,  and  it  an- 
nounced in  each  number  the  issue  of  patents 
for  the  preceding  quarter.  In  it  were  also  pub- 
lished monthly  meteorological  records  made 
by  its  editor.  Mr.  Little  is  said  to  have  been 
instrumental  in  the  creation  of  the  Botanical 
Garden.  He  made  a  collection  of  hymns 
for  the  use  of  his  congregation,  which  was 
printed  by  William  Cooper,  a  member  of 
that  body.  Jared  Sparks  noticed  this  col- 
lection in  his  magazine,  saying  that  it  was 
made  with  good  taste.  A  letter  by  Mrs.  Sea- 
ton  describes  him  as  "patriarchal  in  appear- 
ance, mild  and  truthful  yet  so  energetic  in 
[26] 


/-->    s 


cc; 


cr; 


cri 


W 


■f^  ^ 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  LIFE 

his  appeals  to  the  reason  and  the  heart,  that 
the  most  indifferent  auditor  finds  himself 
imperceptibly  engaged  in  self-examination." 
Mr.  Little  had  hesitated  to  take  the  leadership 
in  the  church  enterprise  for  various  reasons. 
In  his  report  to  the  church  at  its  annual  meet- 
ing in  1823  he  said:  "I  have  never  pretended 
to  those  talents  either  natural  or  acquired 
which  the  distinguished  situation  of  your  min- 
ister renders  desirable.  But  all  that  I  have 
has  been,  and  will  be,  cheerfully  devoted  to  this 
service  so  long  as  my  ability  and  your  appro- 
bation coincide."  At  his  death,  very  kindly 
things  were  said  of  him  by  people  of  other  re- 
ligious denominations  who  seemed  to  value 
him  for  his  sincerity  of  life.  A  funeral  sermon 
for  Mr.  Little  was  preached  in  the  First 
Church  August  12,  1827,  by  the  Rev.  Fred- 
eric Farley,  who  was  temporarily  occupying 
the  pulpit  in  Baltimore. 

For  the  remainder  of  the  year  1827  and  until 
some  time  in  1828  the  pulpit  was  supplied  by 
ministers  from  the  north,  several  of  whom  were 
asked  as  candidates  for  the  pastorate.  The 
choice  of  a  new  minister  was  a  matter  of  inter- 
est not  without  difficulty.  In  a  letter  to  a 
northern  friend,  written  from  Washington  in 
1827,  Associate  Justice  Joseph  Story  of  the 
[27] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITAMANISM 

Supreme  Court  of  the  United   States  said; 

"There  is  no  spot  in  the  Union  where  a  very 
able  Unitarian  minister  is  more  wanted  than 
here.  I  think  such  a  man  would  soon  gather 
an  excellent  congregation.  But  the  position 
requires  tact  as  well  as  talent  and  elevated 
and  fervid  piety.  It  is  of  very  great  con- 
sequence to  bring  such  a  man  here  with  a  view 
to  large  operations,  and  our  Cambridge 
friends  ought  to  consider  that  it  is  not  suffi- 
cient to  fill  the  office  but  to  fill  it  so  well  as  to 
command  reverence  and  attract  the  busy  and 
the  gay;  the  contemplative  and  the  learned. 
I  repeat  it,  a  young  man  of  suitable  ambition 
and  talents  ought  not  to  desire  a  fairer  or  a 
freer  field." 

This  was  apropos  of  a  sermon  by  a  supply, 
or  possible  candidate.  It  may  have  occurred  to 
Justice  Story  also  because  of  another  sermon, 
by  an  unknown  preacher,  of  which  he  wrote 
to  the  same  friend: 

"His  manner  of  treating  the  subject — Rea- 
son and  Revelation — was  striking  and  stirring 
and  somewhat  startling  to  timid  minds,  and 
though  he  dealt  with  powerful  truths,  the  man- 
ner, to  weak  brethren,  would  seem  somewhat 
uncompromising  and  harsh.  I  was  mj^self 
much  pleased,  though  a  little  more  suavity 
would  have  made  it  more  generally  engag- 
ing." 

[28] 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  LIFE 

The  Society  was  small,  poor  and  in  debt  and 
remained  so  for  many  years.  Then  as  now 
there  was  a  transient  population  in  the  Capital 
which  might  help  fill  a  church  but  not  its  treas- 
ury. Many  members  were  dependent  upon  the 
administration  for  their  positions  and  were  li- 
able to  be  thrown  out  of  them  when  a  political 
change  should  occur.  It  is  gratifying  to  re- 
cord that,  fifty  years  later,  the  correction  of 
this  evil  by  Civil  Service  Reform  was  largely 
due  to  the  efforts  of  a  member  of  All  Souls 
Church,  Dorman  B.  Eaton.  Though  poor 
in  purse,  the  people  were  rich  in  ideals  and 
sought  a  minister  equally  endowed.  The  Rev. 
John  Pierpont  bluntly  stated  the  situation 
when  he  replied  to  a  correspondent  here: 

"There  is  difficulty  in  meeting  your  wishes 
.  .  .  for  the  simple  reason  that  the  gentle- 
man who  would  fill  your  pulpit  as  you  wish, 
and  as  it  ought  to  be  filled,  is  not  to  be  had. 
Your  beau-ideal  exists  only  in  idea." 

^Massachusetts  was  the  source  of  supply  and, 
in  the  light  of  the  after  careers  of  many  whom 
she  sent  here,  would  seem  to  have  done  very 
well  by  the  poor  but  ambitious  church. 

Perhaps  one  cause  of  the  church's  slow 
[29] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

growth  was  its  geographical  location.  The 
place  was  not  suited  to  the  social  ideas  which 
were  the  mainspring  of  Unitarianism.  The- 
ologically Unitarianism  attracted  many  by  its 
common-sense  explanation  or  setting  aside  of 
long  accepted  dogmas,  but  when  it  insisted  on 
doing  as  one  would  be  done  by,  and  on  loving 
one's  neighbor  as  one's  self,  the  matter  was  dif- 
ficult by  either  precept  or  example  in  the  midst 
of  slavery.  Candidates  came,  took  in  the  sit- 
uation, thought  it  an  impossible  one,  and  went 
away.  Edward  Everett  Hale  has  said  of  his 
impression  in  1844<: 

"I  knew  perfectly  well  that  there  was  to  be 
a  gulf  of  'fire  between  the  North  and  the  South 
before  things  went  much  further  and  I  really 
distrusted  my  own  capacity  at  the  age  of 
twenty-three  to  build  a  bridge  which  should 
take  us  over." 

Mr.  Little  had  been  obliged  to  eke  out  his 
salary  by  clerical  work  for  the  government. 
In  this  he  was  not  alone,  as  Charles  Bulfinch, 
writing  to  his  wife,  said : 

"No  parish  is  large  enough  to  give  a  living 

to  or  tempt  any  man  of  superior  talents  to  fix 

with:  indeed  they  are  all  obliged  to  follow 

some  other  calling  to  enable  them  to  gain  a 

[30] 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  LIFE 

support.  Most  of  them  keep  private  schools, 
but  several  are  writers  in  the  public  offices 
during  the  week." 

Some  years  later,  when  Mr.  Bulfinch's  son, 
Stephen,  was  minister  of  the  Unitarian  parish, 
this  obligation  still  existed,  and  the  Committee 
of  ^lanagement  applied  to  the  War  Depart- 
ment for  some  position  which  would  add  to  the 
income  of  the  j'oung  pastor.  After  enumer- 
ating the  qualities  he  possessed  that  would 
make  him  an  efficient  clerk,  they  said  that  be- 
cause he  spoke  ex  tempore  he  would  be  able  to 
give  the  requisite  time  to  clerical  duties  with- 
out inconvenience  to  himself.  John  Quincy 
Adams  mentions  with  some  show  of  annoy- 
ance the  fact  of  Mr.  Little's  having  asked  his 
help  in  securing  more  pay  from  the  govern- 
ment. Later,  when  the  Rev.  Mr.  Palfrey 
asked  his  influence  in  obtaining  the  position  of 
assistant  doorkeeper  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives for  one  of  his  parishioners,  he  re- 
plied that  the  applicant  should  have  the  influ- 
ence but  that  he  had  disqualifications  for  the 
place  which  would  defeat  him,  viz. :  that  he  was 
a  Yankee  and  a  Unitarian. 

It  is  greatly  to  the  credit  of  both  ministers 
and  laity  that  they  persisted  in  spite  of  pov- 
erty and  unpopularity,  in  keeping  alive  the 
[31] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

flickering  flame  on  the  altar  of  their  faith. 
In  1829,  when  the  church  felt  obliged  to  ask 
help  from  the  denomination  in  order  to  pre- 
vent the  loss  of  their  building,  even  Dr.  Chan- 
ning  wrote  Judge  Cranch  a  very  discouraging 
letter  in  which,  after  enumerating  reasons  why- 
it  would  be  difficult  to  raise  money  for  the  pur- 
pose, he  said: 

"I  found,  too,  what  I  confess  surprised  me, 
that  the  importance  of  Washington  as  a  reli- 
gious station,  though  generally  acknowledged, 
was  not  felt  by  some  very  judicious  persons." 

This  was  in  reference  to  that  part  of  the  pe- 
tition sent  Dr.  Channing,  which  stated: 

"We  wish  to  exhibit  here  in  the  centre  of 
the  Union,  at  the  seat  of  the  National  Govern- 
ment, not  only  the  simple  doctrines  of  pure 
Christianity  but  an  example  of  religious  re- 
publicanism, a  model  of  an  independent 
church,  unfettered  by  human  creeds  and  un- 
awed  by  the  mandates  of  Popes  and  Bishops, 
Presbyters  and  Councils,  Synods  and  Sessions, 
and  all  the  contrivances  by  which  spiritual 
pride  seeks  to  control  the  consciences  of  men — 
manfully  to  assert  that  liberty  with  which 
Christ  has  made  us  free." 

In  that  spirit  they  went  bravely  on  in  their 
[32] 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  LIFE 

efforts  to  save  the  church  in  spite  of  discour- 
agement from  the  High  Priest  of  their  faith. 
Of  their  struggles  then  and  later  Mr.  Francis 
Ormond  French  said,  when  presenting  a  win- 
dow to  All  Souls  in  memory  of  his  mother, 
Elizabeth  Richardson  French: 

"The  period  was  one  of  feebleness  for  the 
society.  It  was  misunderstood  and  misrepre- 
sented in  the  community  and  at  times  politi- 
cal dissensions  threatened  its  existence.  But 
the  families  of  Seaton,  both  Taylors,  Purdy, 
Brown,  Adams,  Webb,  the  venerable  John 
Quincy  Adams,  Judge  Cranch  and  Mr.  Fill- 
more during  his  presidency,  stood  together  in 
the  old  church  edifice  as  in  a  strong  fortress." 

Adverse  conditions  did  not  change  for  many 
years  and  the  records  of  the  First  Church  are 
pathetic  reading.  Danger  that  'its  building 
might  be  sold  was  probably  averted  by  renewal 
of  the  mortgage  on  it.  This  relief  was  tem- 
porary and  in  a  few  years  another  appeal  was 
necessary.  In  1823  the  trustees  said,  after  ex- 
plaining the  financial  difficulties  of  the  church : 
"Under  these  circumstances,  the  proprietors 
of  the  church  feel  themselves  compelled  to  ap- 
peal to  the  sympathy  and  enlightened  charity 
of  those  Christians  out  of  their  immediate 
neighborhood  who  take  an  interest  in  the  prog- 

[33] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

ress  of  rational  religion,  and  especially  of 
those  views  of  Christianity  which  the  wisest 
and  best  men  in  the  community  have  regarded 
as  most  salutary  to  society,  most  sustaining  to 
human  hope,  and  most  honorable  to  the  gov- 
ernment and  character  of  God.  The  pro- 
prietors of  this  church  are  persuaded  that 
gentlemen  in  this  vicinity  will  feel,  that  the  cir- 
cumstances of  their  case  are  peculiarly  inter- 
esting. They  can  not  reproach  themselves 
with  extravagance,  or  with  having  made  any 
other  than  the  best  possible  use  of  their  means. 
They  are  willing  to  ask  those  gentlemen  who 
have  visited  Washington  and  seen  their  church, 
whether,  at  the  same  expense,  more  has  been 
done  in  any  part  of  the  country.  They  con- 
sider, too,  that  it  is  not  only  important  to  them 
as  a  rehgious  society,  that  they  should  be  able 
to  worship  God  together  in  spirit  and  in  peace; 
but  it  is  also  of  importance  to  the  general  in- 
terests of  rational  Christianity  that  at  the  seat 
of  the  National  Government,  there  should  be  a 
place  where  Unitarians,  from  different  sections 
of  the  country,  may  meet  in  social  worship; 
and  where  the  most  eminent  men  in  the  nation 
may  have  an  opportunity  of  hearing  the  reli- 
gion of  the  New  Testament  represented  as 
something  that  shall  command  their  respect, 

[34] 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  LIFE 

and  lead  them  back,  from  the  skepticism  into 
which  the  finest  minds  are  too  often  driven  by- 
irrational  views  of  religion,  to  the  hopes  and 
the  peace  which  flow  from  enlightened  faith. 
They  ask  reluctantly  but  earnestly.  They  ask 
of  those  whose  liberal  hearts  are  not  unused 
to  the  devising  of  liberal  things,  and  who  do 
what  their  hearts  devise,  with  a  deep  convic- 
tion that  God  is  not  unrighteous  to  forget  the 
offices  of  benevolence  which  they  shall  have 
shewed  in  his  name."  This  was  a  circular  let- 
ter to  be  distributed  or  presented  in  the  north 
by  Mr.  Philip  INIauro. 

In  1835  the  same  danger  moved  the  trus- 
tees to  ask  the  church  members  and  the  people 
of  Washington  for  help.  This  troublesome 
spectre  of  debt  was  not  banished  until  the  time 
of  the  reorganization  of  the  Society  and  the 
new  start  in  1877. 


[35] 


CHAPTER  IV 

MINISTERS   OF   THE   FIRST   CHURCH 

From  1821  to  1921,  the  Unitarian  pulpit 
has  been  occupied  for  longer  or  shorter  periods 
by  nineteen  ministers.  Not  all  were  settled  as 
pastors,  but  all  contributed  toward  the  estab- 
lisliment  in  the  National  Capital  of  the  "sweet 
reasonableness"  of  a  liberal  faith. 

The  first  successor  to  Mr.  Little  who  served 
long  enough  continuously  to  be  designated  as 
a  pastor  was  Andrew  Bigelow.  His  stay  was 
of  one  year's  duration,  from  some  date  in  1828 
to  1829.  He  was  a  young  man  just  entering 
upon  the  profession  which  later  he  signally 
honored.  After  leaving  Washington,  Mr. 
Bigelow  was  for  some  years  minister  at  Taun- 
ton, Massachusetts.  In  1845  he  began  the 
work  as  minister  at  large  among  the  poor  in 
Boston,  which  ennobled  his  life.  There  for 
thirty-two  years  he  served  those  in  his  charge 
as  friend  and  adviser  in  temporal  needs  and  as 
instructor  in  moral  and  spiritual  matters. 
[36] 


MINISTERS  OF  FIRST  CHURCH 

There  he  was  entitled  to  be  called  a  pastor. 
He  died  in  1877. 

The  short  ministry  of  Andrew  Bigelow  was 
followed  by  that  of  Cazneau  Palfrey,  which 
lasted  nearly  six  years.  Very  little  can  be 
learned  from  the  church  records  in  regard  to 
the  period  from  1830  to  183G.  It  is  known 
that  at  ]\Ir.  Palfrey's  ordination  in  Washing- 
ton, the  officiating  clergymen  were  Dr.  Bur- 
nap  of  Baltimore,  the  Rev.  Francis  Parkman 
of  Boston,  and  the  Rev.  Hersey  B.  Goodwin 
of  Concord,  Massachusetts.  For  this  occa- 
sion Stephen  G.  Bulfinch  wrote  a  hymn,  which 
dealt  especially  with  Mr.  Little's  death  and 
Mr.  Palfrey's  coming  to  take  the  place  thus 
made  vacant.  It  is  interesting  because  of  the 
fact  that  its  author  grew  up  in  iNIr.  Little's 
church  and  was  destined  to  be  INIr.  Palfrey's 
successor  in  the  same  church.  The  records  of 
the  Harvard  Divinit}'  School  show  that  after 
leaving  Washington  Mr.  Palfrey  was  minister 
at  Grafton  and  Barnstable,  Massachusetts, 
until  1847,  and  at  Belfast,  Maine,  for  twenty- 
three  years  from  1848  to  1871.  He  died  at 
Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  in  1888.  Among 
the  church  papers  is  a  little  slip,  brown  with 
age,  on  which  is  written  a  resolution  offered 
by  Joseph  Gales,  Jr.,  and  adopted  by  the  Com- 

[37] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

mittee  of  Management,  December  10,  1834. 
It  reads:  "Resolved,  that  in  order  to  keep 
up  a  spirit  of  inquiry  on  the  subject  of  Reli- 
gion, the  Rev.  Mr.  Palfrey,  our  much  esteemed 
pastor,  be  requested  to  deliver  on  Sunday  eve- 
nings during  the  present  session  of  Congress, 
a  popular  Discourse  on  some  leading  doctrine 
of  the  Unitarian  System  and  cause  the  same  to 
be  announced  in  the  City  Papers  on  the  pre- 
ceding Saturday,  and  that  the  Pews  of  the 
Church  will  be  open  as  heretofore  to  all  who 
desire  to  attend." 

Mr.  Conway,  in  his  sermon  "The  Old  and 
the  New"  delivered  December  31,  1854,  said 
of  Mr.  Palfrey :  "His  ministry  was  attended 
with  success.  He  presented  in  a  series  of  Lec- 
tures the  reasons  which  his  congregation  had 
for  separation  from  other  churches,  in  a  forc- 
ible manner.  In  the  year  named  (1836)  he 
left  for  private  reasons,  to  the  sorrow  of  the 
church  and  himself." 

The  interim  of  seven  months  between  Mr. 
Palfrey  and  Stephen  G.  Bulfinch  was  filled 
by  the  Rev.  Frederic  A.  Farley.  Like  several 
other  pastorates,  as  given  in  Dr.  Shippen's 
calendar,  its  length  hardly  justifies  such  des- 
ignation. But  it  shows,  as  do  the  others,  that 
it  was  the  intention  of  the  church  and  the  de- 
[38] 


MINISTERS  OF  FIRST  CHURCH 

nomination  to  bring  to  the  Capital,  even  for 
short  stays  only,  men  of  marked  mental  cali- 
ber and  merit. 

Mr.  Farley  had  prepared  himself  for  the 
practice  of  the  law,  which  he  relinquished  to 
enter  the  Harvard  Divinity  School  in  prepar- 
ation for  the  ministry.  His  first  important 
settlement  was  at  Providence,  Rhode  Island. 
Afterward  he  was  for  some  j^ears  in  Brooklyn, 
New  York.  It  was  he  who  came  to  Washing- 
ton at  Judge  Cranch's  request  to  preach  a  fu- 
neral sermon  for  Robert  Little,  the  first  minis- 
ter. 

The  name  of  Bulfinch  occurs  not  only  in  the 
history  of  the  laity  of  the  church,  but  in  that 
of  the  ministry  as  well.  Stephen  G.  Bulfinch, 
tenth  and  youngest  son  of  the  celebrated  ar- 
chitect, was  the  fourth  settled  minister  of  the 
First  Church.  He  succeeded  the  Rev.  Caz- 
neau  Palfrey  in  1838,  and  retained  the  pulpit 
until  1844.  His  boyhood  was  spent  in  Wash- 
ington, from  his  ninth  year,  where  he  gradu- 
ated from  Columbian  College  in  1827.  After 
three  years  at  the  Harvard  Divinity  School, 
he  was  ordained  as  an  Evangehst  and  went  to 
Augusta,  Georgia,  there  to  enter  upon  an 
Evangelist's  duties.  He  edited  there  for  a 
year  or  more  a  quarterly  called  The  Unitar- 
[39] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

ian  Christian.  He  came  as  minister  to  Wash- 
ington from  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania.  The 
records  of  his  pastorate  in  Washington  are 
very  meager.  Several  of  the  sermons  he 
preached  here  may  be  found  in  the  Library  of 
Congress  as  also  copies  of  his  poems  and  other 
writings.  He  was  an  earnest  student,  and  a 
writer  of  hymns  and  books  for  use  of  Sunday 
Schools.  Some  of  his  hymns  are  still  in  use. 
He  substituted  for  Dr.  George  R.  Noyes,  pro- 
fessor of  Greek  and  Latin  in  the  Harvard  Di- 
vinity School,  during  an  illness  of  Dr.  Noyes. 
One  of  his  sermons,  published  by  request  by 
Gales  and  Seaton,  was  suggested  by  Weare's 
picture  in  the  Capitol  of  the  "Embarkation 
of  the  Pilgrims."  It  has  a  more  modern  tone 
than  much  of  the  writing  of  the  time  and  is 
very  readable.  In  it  he  spoke  of  the  Pilgrims 
as  the  "trebty  refined  gold  of  the  English  dis- 
senting body,"  and  foreshadowing  national 
events  he  said  "God  gi-ant  that  without  civil 
dissension  or  individual  injustice  the  cause  of 
freedom  may  yet  have  entire  and  triumphant 
success  in  our  land."  Mr.  Bulfinch  was  very 
hospitable  to  other  sects  and  welcomed  the 
Lutherans  when  they  established  their  church 
at  the  Capital.  He  was  opposed  to  persecu- 
tion of  any  sect,  and  was  long  gratefully  re- 
[40] 


MINISTERS  OF  FIRST  CHURCH 

membered  by  some  Catholics  in  Washington 
because  of  his  attitude  at  a  time  when  the  tide 
of  religious  and  political  feeling  set  strongly 
against  them. 

Here  Edward  Everett  Hale,  in  October, 
184'!,  began  the  career  which  took  him  into  na- 
tional and  universal  rank  as  preacher,  au- 
thor and  philanthropist.  The  letter  in  which 
he  gave  his  reasons  for  declining  the  position 
offered  him  by  the  First  Church  is  interesting 
as  an  evidence  that  in  a  literary  sense  the  boy 
was  father  to  the  man,  and  as  an  hitherto  un- 
published document  by  a  famous  author.  It 
was  addressed  to  the  Standing  Committee  of 
the  Unitarian  Society,  Washington.  It  was 
dated,  Washington,  Saturday,  Nov.  23,  1844, 
and  said: 

"Gentlemen:  Since  our  conversation  of 
IMonday  evening  I  have  given  the  most  care- 
ful consideration  to  the  invitation  you  extended 
to  me  in  behalf  of  the  Unitarian  Society. 

"On  full  reflection  I  can  not  feel  that  I 
ought  to  undertake  the  duties  of  your  minister. 
For  it  is  but  a  short  time  since  I  entered  on 
the  labors  of  my  profession.  I  have  therefore 
neither  such  professional  resources  nor  exper- 
ience as  would  justify  me  in  proposing  to  my- 
self the  responsible  duties  of  an  isolated  posi- 

[41] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

tion  of  such  importance,  which  would  separate 
me  so  far  from  all  my  early  associations.  I 
say  this  in  full  recollection  of  the  thoughtful 
consideration  of  the  Society,  for  I  am  very 
grateful  to  all  its  members  for  the  kind  atten- 
tion with  which  they  have  received  my  efforts 
in  its  service;  and  for  the  cordial  hospitality 
which  has  made  my  residence  in  Washington 
so  agreeable  to  me. 

"I  shall  be  glad  to  supply  the  pulpit  as  at 
present  until  the  first  of  February  or  perhaps 
the  first  of  March,  unless  at  any  tipie  the  Com- 
mittee should  prefer  some  other  arrangement. 

"With  great  respect,  Gentlemen, 
"I  am  Truly  Yours, 

"Edward  E.  Hale." 

From  this  pulpit  also  spoke  Samuel  Long- 
fellow, for  a  s^hort  time  only,  but  long  enough 
to  deliver  his  soul  of  its  burden  on  the  subject 
of  slavery.  When  he  came  to  Washington 
for  the  month  of  April  in  1847,  Mr.  Long- 
fellow had  just  finished  his  preparation  for  the 
ministry  and  had  not  yet  settled  with  any 
church.  He  was  probably  a  candidate  for  the 
pulpit  of  the  First  Church.  This  may  be  in- 
ferred from  his  writing  to  his  friend,  Samuel 
Johnson,  that  he  thought  they  would  never  set- 
tle any  man  who  was  an  abolitionist.  The  let- 
ter was  written  soon  after  Mr.  Longfellow  had 
said  his  word  to  the  church  as  to  slavery.  He 
[42] 


The  Reverend  Rush  R.  Shippen  (1881-1895) 


MINISTERS  OF  FIRST  CHURCH 

had  hoped  to  be  able  to  get  through  the  month 
with  no  very  positive  expression  of  opinion  in 
regard  to  that  institution,  but  the  final  Sunday 
found  him  convinced  that  he  must  not  leave  it 
unmentioned.  He  had  discovered  in  the 
church  a  degree  of  indifference  toward  the 
great  evil  which  he  thought  merited  reproof, 
and  this  he  determined  to  give.  He  said  after- 
ward that  he  did  this,  mildly  but  plainly;  that 
"they  took  it  beautifully,  no  one  went  out,  and 
some  came  to  say  good-bye."  Through  the 
long  years  since  that  Sunday,  darkened  by  fu- 
rious agitations  and  political  actions,  which 
culminated  in  war,  this  earnest  effort  of  a 
young  preacher  shines  with  the  light  of  a  "good 
deed  in  a  naughty  world."  Samuel  Long- 
fellow became  one  of  the  denomination's  best 
known  ministers.  He  held  long  pastorates  in 
Brooklyn  and  Philadelphia.  He  was  one  of 
America's  best  hymn  writers,  a  man  of  fine 
soul  and  beautiful  life. 

Here  at  different  periods  preached  Orville 
Dewey  to  large  congregations  who  listened  to 
his  eloquent  presentation  of  a  practical  rather 
than  a  dogmatic  Christianity.  Of  Dr.  Dewey, 
his  intimate  friend,  Dr.  Henry  W.  Bellows, 
said :  "Dewey  is  undoubtedly  the  founder  and 
most  conspicuous  example  of  what  is  best  in 

[431 


MINISTERS  OF  FIRST  CHURCH 

the  modern  school  of  preaching.  Like  Frank- 
lin, who  trained  the  lightning  of  the  sky  to 
respect  the  safety  and  finally  to  run  the  er- 
rands of  men  on  earth,  Dewey  brought  rehgion 
from  its  remote  home  and  domesticated  it  in 
the  immediate  present.  He  first  successfully 
taught  its  application  to  the  business  of  the 
market  and  the  street,  to  the  offices  of  the 
home  and  the  pleasures  of  society.  We  are 
so  familiar  with  this  method  now  prevalent  in 
the  best  pulpits  of  all  Christian  bodies  that  we 
forget  the  originality  and  boldness  of  the  hand 
that  first  turned  the  current  of  religion  into 
the  ordinary  channel  of  life  and  upon  the  work- 
ing wheels  of  daily  business." 

Dr.  Dewey  spent  three  winters  in  Wash- 
ington as  Minister  of  the  First  Unitarian 
Church.  Educated  and  ordained  in  orthodoxy, 
he  had  remained  but  one  year  in  her  service. 
In  1821  he  was  appointed  assistant  to  Dr.  Wil- 
liam E.  Channing,  and  a  few  years  afterward 
was  called  to  the  Unitarian  Church  in  New 
Bedford.  In  that  city  he  remained  eleven 
years  and  gave  up  the  charge  only  because  of 
a  condition  of  health  which  forbade  contin- 
uous application.  After  a  long  rest  he  ac- 
cepted the  invitation  which  came  to  him  from 
the  Second  Congregational  Society  of  New 
[44] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

York.  This  Society  was  long  known  as  the 
Church  of  the  ^lessiah.  In  New  York  he  re- 
mained until  1849.  Dr.  Dewey's  first  winter 
in  Washington,  that  of  1846-47,  was  by  way  of 
relief  from  the  onerous  duties  of  the  New  York 
charge.  The  second  and  third  winters  fol- 
lowed soon  after  his  resignation  of  the  New 
York  pulpit.  The  demands  here  were  not 
greater  than  he  could  meet  physically,  and  his 
coming  brought  to  the  Unitarian  Church  and 
to  the  Capital  one  of  the  finest  minds  in  the 
denomination  and  the  country. 

Of  his  second  winter  in  Washington,  that 
of  1851-52,  Dr.  Dewey  said :  "Life  in  Wash- 
ington was  not  agreeable  to  me  and  yet  I  felt 
a  singular  attachment  to  the  people  there. 
This  mixture  of  repulsion  and  attraction  I 
could  not  understand  at  the  time,  but  walking 
these  streets  two  or  three  years  later  when 
experience  had  become  history  I  could  read 
it.  In  London  or  Paris,  the  presence  of  the 
government  is  hardly  felt;  the  action  of  pub- 
lic affairs  is  merged  and  lost  in  the  life  of  a 
great  city,  but  in  Washington  it  is  the  all- 
absorbing  business  of  the  place.  Now, 
whether  it  be  pride  or  sympathy,  one  does  not 
enjoy  a  great  movement  of  things  going  on 
around  him  in  which  he  has  no  part,  and  the 
[45] 


MINISTERS  OF  FIRST  CHURCH 

thoughts  and  aims  of  a  retired  and  studious 
man  especially  sever  him  from  the  views  and 
interests  of  public  men.  But  on  the  other 
hand  this  very  pressure  of  an  all-surrounding 
public  life  brings  private  men  closer  together. 
There  they  stand  while  the  tides  of  successive 
administrations  sweep  by  them  and  their  re- 
lation becomes  constantly  more  interesting 
from  the  fluctuation  of  everything  else." 

Dr.  Dewey's  explanation  reveals  vividly  the 
change  which  the  succeeding  years  have 
wrought  in  the  life  of  the  Capital.  Where 
once  government  affairs  were  first  in  the  minds 
of  all,  and  even  churches  were  regulated  by 
the  coming  and  going  of  the  Congress,  they 
are  now  as  completely  merged  in  the  interests 
of  a  great  city  as  were  those  of  France  and 
England  in  the  Paris  and  London  of  which  he 
thought  in  1851.  Washington  has  attained 
identity  since  that  date. 

In  a  letter  to  Dr.  Ware,  and  excusing  an 
ebullition  of  nonsense  with  which  he  had  be- 
gun, Dr.  Dewey  wrote:  "Life  is  such  a  sol- 
emn abstraction  to  a  clergyman  in  Washing- 
ton! What  has  he  to  do  but  what  is  solemn? 
The  gayety  passes  him  by;  the  politics  pass 
him  by ;  nobody  wants  him ;  nobody  holds  him 
[46] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

b}^  the  buttonhole  but  some  desperate,  dilapi- 
dated philanthropist." 

The  shadow  of  slavery  darkened  life  in 
Washington  for  Dr.  Dewey  and  was  the  sub- 
ject of  very  serious  thinking  by  him.  He  was 
not  in  accord  with  the  extreme  ideas  of  north- 
ern abolitionists.  He  differed  with  them  as  to 
ways  of  removing  the  evil.  He  abhorred  it 
as  much  as  they  did.  He  was  misrepresented 
and  misunderstood  by  many.  He  believed 
that  emancipation  should  be  gradual,  and  in 
this  opinion  he  was  not  alone.  In  Washing- 
ton he  met  statesmen  from  both  North  and 
South  with  whom  he  discussed  the  subject  of 
slavery.  The  opinions  thus  gathered  indi- 
cated, to  his  mind,  disunion  of  the  states.  Of 
this  he  said:  "I  fear  disunion  and  no  mortal 
line  can  sound  the  depth  of  that  calamity." 
When  issues  between  the  two  sections  were 
more  clearly  drawn,  his  judgment  was  cer- 
tain and  unerring.  His  only  son  served  in  the 
Union  army  when  the  condition  he  had  fore- 
seen came  to  pass. 

From  1847  to  1850  Joseph  Henry  Allen  was 
minister,  during  a  season  of  more  or  less  anx- 
iety because  of  the  narrow  means  of  the  so- 
ciety. After  leaving  Washington  Mr.  Allen 
[47] 


MINISTERS  OF  FIRST  CHURCH 

became  distinguished  as  author,  editor  and 
lecturer  on  history  in  the  Divinity  School  of 
Harvard  University.  College  students  of  a 
generation  or  two  ago  may  discover  in  him 
the  joint  author  of  many  of  the  Latin  text- 
books used  in  their  classical  course,  but  this 
authorship  was  a  minor  incident  in  a  life  rich 
in  scholarly  and  literary  attainment. 


[48] 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   SHADOW   OF   SLAVERY 

On  February  28,  1855,  was  installed  Mon- 
cure  D.  Conway,  who  alone  has  represented 
the  South  in  the  Unitarian  pulpit  of  Washing- 
ton. Probably  no  greater  enthusiasm  ever  in- 
spired a  minister  there  than  that  of  the  young 
Virginian,  born  in  1832,  who,  having  overcome 
tradition  by  reason,  in  both  religion  and  pol- 
itics, was  fired  by  such  a  zeal  for  absolute  right 
as  to  make  him  intolerant  of  compromise  and 
possibly  impolitic  in  method.  His  utterances 
on  the  slavery  question  brought  about  his  dis- 
missal as  minister.  Throughout  a  long,  wan- 
dering, intensely  interesting  life,  the  bond  of 
friendship  between  himself  and  some  of  his 
former  parishioners  remained  unbroken.  To 
them  he  was  the  lovable  friend,  to  the  world 
he  was  the  radical  and  somewhat  eccentric 
thinker,  the  impulsive  actor,  the  interesting 
writer,  who  must  in  fairness  be  set  down  as 
"one  who  loved  his  fellow  men." 
[49] 


THE  SHADOW  OF  SLAVERY 

Mr.  Conway's  pastorate  proved  to  be  a  spec- 
tacular as  well  as  a  serious  period, in  the  life 
of  the  church.  It  may  be  doubted  whether 
the  most  discreet  and  non-committal  minister 
could  have  further  delayed  the  bursting  into 
flame  of  the  fire  that  had  been  smouldering  so 
long.  It  would  seem  certain  that  with  the 
accession  to  the  pulpit  of  an  ardently  sincere 
young  man,  filled  with  the  zeal  of  the  convert 
and  the  reformer,  and  quite  self-confident,  no 
other  result  could  have  been  expected  than  that 
which  followed.  Mr.  Conway  was  twenty- 
two  years  old  when  he  took  charge  of  the 
Washington  church.  His  lineage  was  that  of 
education,  culture  and  prominence  in  public 
affairs.  On  the  plantations  of  his  father  and 
his  uncles,  young  Conway  saw  slavery  at  its 
best.  His  maturing  mind  soon  began  to  dis- 
cover the  moral  and  economic  evils  of  the  sj^s- 
tem.  Later  with  broader  vision  in  all  things, 
its  absolute  wrong  was  very  plain  to  him.  In 
his  autobiography,  Mr.  Conway  said  that  he 
came  by  his  anti-slavery  notions  honestly,  as 
one  of  his  ancestors  had  been  one  of  the  early 
emancipationists  of  Virginia.  His  father  be- 
lieved that  slavery  was  doomed  and  often  made 
this  assertion  to  his  son. 

Mr.  Conway's  parents  were  Methodists  who 
[50] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

had  broken  the  regular  family  order  in  reh- 
gious  matters,  which  was  EpiscopaHan.  Their 
Methodism  was  of  a  strict  nature,  wherein  the 
day  of  judgment  loomed  large,  as  every  action 
was  considered  in  relation  to  that  dread  day. 
Yet  the  geniality  of  JNIethodism  was  not 
wholly  lacking  in  the  family  circle,  and  life 
was  very  happy  there. 

At  fifteen  years  of  age,  Mr.  Conway  was  a 
sophomore  at  Dickinson  College,  Carlisle, 
Pennsylvania,  whence  he  graduated  in  1849. 
He  had  before  this  time  passed  through  the 
religious  experience  of  conversion  and  it  was 
the  hope  of  his  father  that  the  ministry  might 
be  his  choice  of  profession.  The  fascination 
of  writing  had  taken  possession  of  his  mind 
and  for  some  time  delayed  this  choice.  When 
made,  it  was  that  of  the  law.  His  study,  though 
diligent,  left  time  for  other  reading  and  for 
writing.  Thinking  that  Virginia  was  losing 
her  status  as  leader  in  intelligence  in  the  re- 
public, he  began  to  search  for  the  reason.  He 
believed  it  was  found  in  her  lack  of  a  public 
school  system.  He  wrote  a  pamphlet  on  the 
subject  of  public  schools,  which  he  published 
and  distributed  among  the  prominent  men  of 
his  State.  Nothing  came  from  it  and  its  au- 
thor began  to  consider  carefully  Horace  Gree- 
[31] 


THE  SHADOW  OF  SLAVERY 

ley*s  statement  that  Virginia's  white  children 
would  not  be  educated  until  her  colored  chil- 
dren were  free. 

Mr.  Conway  was  convinced  by  this  expe- 
rience that  writing  did  not  appeal  to  the  pub- 
lic, and  that  the  spoken  word  was  necessary  to 
carry  to  the  people  the  message  he  was  sure 
he  had  for  them.  Then  suddenly  he  saw  the 
power  which  a  Methodist  minister  might  exert, 
if  he  cared  to  do  so,  and  declared  his  intention 
of  becoming  one.  In  a  short  time  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  Rockville,  Maryland,  circuit. 
He  had  lately  begun  reading  Emerson  and 
Carlyle,  and  their  writings  with  a  book  by 
Coleridge  jostled  the  Methodist  discipline, 
Taylor's  Holy  Living  and  Dying  and  Wat- 
son's Theology,  in  the  circuit  rider's  saddle 
bags.  No  disastrous  results  of  this  conflict  of 
opinions  were  apparent,  but  it  chanced  that 
his  circuit  took  in  a  community  of  Hicksite 
Quakers,  and  some  other  liberal-minded  peo- 
ple, with  whom  in  the  course  of  time  Mr. 
Conway  became  acquainted.  Through  his 
reading  of  Emerson,  and  through  his  observa- 
tion of  the  fact  that  people,  living  the  finest 
of  lives,  cared  nothing  for  the  dogmas  which 
he  thought  necessary,  the  leaven  of  liberalism 
entered  his  mind  and  began  to  work.  Very 
[52] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

soon  his  conscience  forbade  him  longer  to  ride 
the  circuit.  He  took  a  week's  vacation  and 
went  to  visit  relatives  in  Baltimore,  where  he 
consulted  Dr.  Burnap,  Unitarian  minister. 
He  was  advised  and  helped  financially  to  en- 
ter the  Harvard  Divinity  School.  His 
father,  grieved  and  disappointed,  refused  him 
any  aid.  The  fact  that  his  course  was  a  cause 
of  sorrow  to  those  dearest  to  him  was  the  only 
shadow  upon  the  new,  active,  congenial  life 
which  opened  before  him.  During  the  three 
years  at  the  Divinitj^  School,  Mr.  Conway  was 
in  daily  contact  with  anti-slavery  agitators  as 
well  as  with  the  leaders  of  liberal  religious 
ideas.  His  mind  furnished  fertile  soil  for  the 
seed  of  extreme  opinions  and  he  left  there  a 
radical  in  politics  and  religion.  He  had  neg- 
lected no  opportunity  for  culture  during  his 
Cambridge  sojourn.  Art,  music  and  the 
drama  contributed  materially  to  the  develop- 
ment of  his  liberalism,  opening  avenues  which 
he  never  ceased  to  explore.  Not  long  after 
his  graduation,  he  was  asked  to  supply  the 
Washington  pulpit  temporarily,  and  on  Oc- 
tober 29,  1854,  was  elected  minister  by  the 
church. 

His  installation  was  made  an  event  by  the 
congregation.     John  Weiss  preached  the  ser- 
[53] 


THE  SHADOW  OF  SLAVERY 

mon  and  Dr.  Burnap  gave  the  ministerial 
charge.  These  men  were  Mr.  Conway's 
choice.  In  his  autobiography,  Mr.  Conway 
said  that  in  his  first  sermon  before  his  election 
he  mentioned  slavery  and  that  on  the  day  of 
his  appointment  he  said,  "The  Church  must 
hold  itself  ready  to  pass  free  judgments  on  all 
custom,  ideas  and  facts;  on  trade  and  politics 
— and  in  this  country  more  especially  hold 
itself  ready  to  give  free  utterance  in  relation 
to  our  special  sin — the  greatest  of  all  sins — 
human  slaverj^"  It  is  but  fair  to  say  that 
every  minister  before  him  had  put  himself  on 
record  in  some  way  in  regard  to  slavery,  and 
none  had  favored  it. 

His  first  published  sermon  to  which  refer- 
ence has  heretofore  been  made  in  these  pages 
was  entitled  "The  Old  and  The  New"  and 
contained  a  history  of  the  church  up  to  that 
date,  December  31,  1854.  His  unorthodox 
views  as  to  dispensations  of  Providence  were 
shown  in  a  sermon  preached  when  a  plague 
was  prevalent  in  Norfolk,  Virginia.  He  said 
that  while  he  could  not  see  God  in  the  pesti- 
lence he  could  see  a  Satan,  "namely,  the  evil 
institution  that  degrades  labor  and  herds  fam- 
ilies into  squalid  quarters  where  disease  and 
crime  find  their  nests."  The  city  authorities 
[54] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

had  asked  churches  "to  unite  in  petitions  to 
Almighty  God  in  behalf  of  those  whom  He 
has  seen  fit  to  visit  so  sorely  and  that  He  will 
be  pleased  to  avert  from  us  such  terrible  ca- 
lamity." The  Unitarian  church  was  not 
opened  for  such  service,  but  the  sermon  quoted 
was  printed — with  a  preface  more  sarcastic 
than  discreet — and  distributed  instead.  Mr. 
Conway  would  seem  to  have  had  the  support 
of  his  congregation  in  such  action.  It  brought 
forth  much  criticism  from  orthodox  pulpits. 
This  was  answered  in  a  sermon  on  "Pharisaism 
and  Fasting."  This  incident  was  probably 
more  remarkable  in  its  religious  than  in  its 
political  sense ;  but  it  was  like  the  sermon  that 
followed  it,  a  ripple  on  the  surface  of  the 
strong  current  which  was  carrying  the  country 
forward  to  the  great  event. 

On  January  26,  1856,  a  sermon  by  the  min- 
ister on  "The  One  Path  or  the  Duties  of  the 
North  and  South,"  called  forth  a  report  from 
the  Committee  of  INlanagement  to  the  congre- 
gation in  which  they  expressed  their  regret  at 
the  course  of  the  minister  and  their  disapproval 
of  the  use  of  the  pulpit  for  political  discussion. 
They  regretted  also  the  fact  that  notices  by 
the  press  of  the  country  made  the  church  re- 
sponsible for  its  minister's  utterances.  There- 
[55] 


THE  SHADOW  OF  SLAVERY 

fore  they  wished  the  church  to  disavow  such 
responsibihty.  The  congregation,  voted  that 
Mr.  Conway  should  be  informed  of  the  Com- 
mittee's report. 

In  reply  Mr.  Conway  made  plain  the  fact 
that  he  would  not  submit  to  any  restriction  in 
the  pulpit,  and  that  if  moved  to  speak  again 
as  he  had  spoken  he  would  not  be  checked  by 
the  action  of  the  church.  He  spoke,  again 
and  again,  with  the  result  that  some  members 
left  the  church  while  others  remained  at  home, 
and  the  congregation  was  made  up  largely  of 
strangers. 

The  situation  was  a  serious  one  for  the  Com- 
mittee of  Management.  The  affairs  of  the 
church  were  becoming  involved  and  necessary 
repairs  to  the  building  were  to  be  provided  for. 
The  climax  was  reached  on  July  6,  1856,  when 
Mr.  Conway  preached  a  sermon  on  "War  and 
its  Present  Threatenings"  which  caused  the 
church  to  refer  the  matter  of  the  independent 
course  of  the  minister  to  a  special  committee 
of  investigation  with  instructions  to  report. 
The  church  was  closed  until  the  following  Oc- 
tober, and  the  minister  spent  his  vacation  in 
the  North  where  he  solicited  aid  toward  the 
repairs  of  the  building.  Of  this  tragic  July 
Sunday,  Mr.  Conway  has  said:  "When  my 
[56] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

discourse  had  ended  that  morning,  I  gave  out 
the  liymn  as  usual  and  the  organist  played  the 
tune,  but  the  choir  did  not  sing.  It  was  a 
quartet  of  church  members  and  they  were  so 
troubled  by  my  discourse  that  they  could  not 
sing.  Harmony  had  left  the  old  church  for- 
ever. The  assembly  sat  for  some  moments  in 
weird  silence.  I  uttered  a  benediction  from 
my  heart,  after  wliich  most  of  them  slowly 
moved  out  while  others  pressed  up  to  grasp 
my  hand."  Early  in  October,  an  adjourned 
meeting  of  July  13th  was  held.  The  special 
investigation  committee  made  no  report.  The 
subject  was  generally  discussed  and  a  resolu- 
tion passed  dissolving  the  relation  which  ex- 
isted between  JMr.  Conway  and  the  First  Uni- 
tarian Church.  When  informed  of  this  action, 
]Mr.  Conway  claimed  that  the  meeting  had 
been  "illegally  conducted  and  was  violative  of 
the  constitution."  He  said  he  asked  only  "a 
full,  fair  and  legal  expression"  of  the  church. 
He  gave  several  reasons  for  his  belief.  This 
attempt  to  reverse  the  decision  of  the  church 
was  not  successful  and  in  a  few  weeks  Mr. 
Conway  received  a  call  to  the  Unitarian 
Church  of  Cincinnati.  He  preached  accept- 
ably there  for  some  time. 

The   church's  unpleasant   relation   to   Mr. 
[57] 


THE  SHADOW  OF  SLAVERY 

Conway  had  been  made  worse  by  the  fact  that 
money  had  been  given  to  him  by  northern 
Unitarians  on  condition  that  the  pulpit  should 
be  free  for  discussion  of  slavery.  After  the 
dismissal  of  Mr.  Conway,  several  of  the  con- 
tributors wrote  very  positive  letters  as  to  the 
conditions  on  which  they  had  given  money  and 
as  to  the  action  of  the  church  in  severing  its  re- 
lation with  Mr.  Conway.  In  some  instances 
these  were  not  such  as  to  promote  harmony 
between  northern  and  southern  Unitarians. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  church,  through  its 
Committee  on  Repairs,  declared:  "The 
church  never  has  and  never  will  pledge  itself 
to  the  anti-slavery  or  the  pro-slavery  cause. 
In  its  extremest  need  it  will  with  the  blessings 
of  God  preserve  its  independence.  .  .  .  The 
First  Unitarian  Society  of  Washington  never 
gave  nor  authorized  the  promises  and  pledges 
upon  which  those  funds  were  given,  and  never 
have  and  never  will  receive  one  farthing  of 
them  coupled  with  any  such  condition." 

Some  of  the  church  members  who  con- 
demned Mr.  Conway's  action  were  anti-slavery 
men,  while  some  of  his  best  personal  friends 
were  politically  opposed  to  him.  During  the 
Civil  War,  Mr.  Conway  was  neither  idle  nor 
silent.  Voice  and  pen  gave  utterance  to  con- 
[58] 


The  Reverend  E.  Bradford  Leavitt  (1897-1900) 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

victions  and  schemes — the  convictions  sincere, 
the  schemes  not  always  practical  and  occasion- 
ally indiscreet.  Early  in  the  conflict  he  dis- 
covered that  his  father's  slaves  were  refugees 
in  Georgetown.  He  got  them  together  and 
with  the  aid  of  military  officials  succeeded  in 
taking  them  to  southern  Ohio,  where  he  set- 
tled them  in  homes  of  their  own.  Mr.  Con- 
way's ministry  in  Cincinnati  was  his  last  in 
America.  Before  the  war  ended,  he  went  to 
London,  England,  as  a  minister  for  The  Free 
Religious  Society  there,  and  the  remainder  of 
his  life  was  mostly  spent  abroad.  He  died  in 
Paris,  France,  November  15,  1907. 

The  ministry  of  the  Rev.  W.  D.  Haley  is 
noticeable  now  chiefly  because  of  its  setting 
between  that  of  Conway  and  Channing.  Mr. 
Haley  was  apparently  a  young  minister  of 
promise  when  he  came  to  Washington.  He 
had  graduated  from  Meadville  in  1853,  had 
helped  to  organize  the  church  at  Alton,  Illi- 
nois, and  had  been  its  minister  from  1853  to 
1856.  He  had  won  recognition  from  the 
leaders  of  the  denomination  as  a  capable  pion- 
eer of  liberalism  in  the  Middle  West.  The 
city  of  Alton  proved  to  be  a  storm  center  of 
pro-slavery  activity,  and  because  of  Mr. 
Haley's  opposition  his  church  was  broken  into 
[59] 


THE  SHADOW  OF  SLAVERY 

and  its  windows  demolished.  For  this  opposi- 
tion he  was  censured  and  naturally  the  result 
was  his  resignation  as  minister.  An  item  in 
the  Christian  Register  in  1855  speaks  of  a  tour 
that  Mr.  Haley  had  lately  made  among  the 
Chippewa  Indians,  which  had  resulted  in  his 
obtaining  much  valuable  scientific  and  liter- 
ary information. 

In  1858,  Mr.  Haley  was  called  to  the  Wash- 
ington church.  Why  the  church  should  have 
chosen  a  minister  who  was  in  a  way  a  martyr 
for  his  reproof  of  pro-slavery  methods,  after 
having  itself  dismissed  Mr.  Conway  for  a  very 
similar  reason,  is  hard  to  understand.  But 
thus  it  was.  Mr.  Haley  retained  the  pulpit 
until  his  enlistment  in  the  Civil  War  in  1861. 
Concerning  his  last  Sunday  in  Washington, 
the  Christian  Register  in  February  of  that 
year  quoted  the  Christian  Inquirer  as  saying: 
"Rev.  W.  D.  Haley  closed  his  ministry  of 
three  years  and  more  in  the  Unitarian  Church. 
Hon.  Edward  Everett,  Thomas  D.  Eliot  and 
other  distinguished  gentlemen  were  present. 
A  discourse  was  preached  by  the  editor  of  the 
Christian  Inquirer  on  Hope  in  God,  after 
which  communion  was  administered.  Not 
having  seen  this  church  since  its  renovation,  we 
[60] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIAN  ISM 

were  impressed  by  its  elegance  and  conven- 
ience." This  item  further  stated  that  "in 
establishing  a  mission  school  for  poor  chil- 
dren INIr.  Haley  had  made  a  movement  in 
Washington  of  a  useful  and  an  important 
kind,  which  we  trust  will  be  revived  and  con- 
tinued." 

To  Mr.  Frank  J.  JNIetcalf,  of  Washington, 
the  church  is  indebted  for  information  regard- 
ing Mr.  Haley.  As  a  hymnologist  he  has  dis- 
covered that  this  minister  published  a  church 
service  together  with  a  compilation  of  hymns. 
Following  the  hymns,  in  this  very  uncommon 
book  there  is  an  "Order  for  Evening  Prayer 
compiled  for  the  use  of  the  First  Church  of 
Washington,"  in  1858,  and  "Dedicated  to  the 
church  by  its  affectionate  pastor,  W.  D. 
Haley."  Mr.  Metcalf's  researches  have  re- 
vealed the  fact  that  Mr.  Haley  was  of  English 
birth,  and  a  student  at  Harvard  before  going 
to  jNIeadville.  He  left  the  Washington  pul- 
pit to  enter  the  army  as  Chaplain  of  the  17th 
JNIassachusetts  Volunteers.  He  was  after- 
ward a  Lieutenant  in  the  army,  and  another 
enlistment  as  Captain  completed  his  military 
record.  After  the  Civil  War,  Mr.  Haley 
would  seem  not  to  have  resumed  the  ministry 
[61] 


THE  SHADOW  OF  SLAVERY 

but  to  have  chosen  the  life  of  a  wandering 
printer  and  newspaper  correspondent,  which 
led  him  finally  to  California  where  he  died  in 
San  Jose  in  1890. 


[62] 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   CHURCH   IN    THE   CIVIL   WAE 

The  name  of  Channing,  synonymous  in  the 
Unitarian  mind  with  hberal-mindedness  and 
philanthropy,  was  worthily  borne  by  the  min- 
ister of  the  First  Church  in  1861.  This  man 
was  William  Hemy  Channing,  nephew  of 
William  Ellery  Channing.  The  annals  of 
Unitarianism  are  rich  in  idealists,  but  few  have 
had  the  all-embracing  vision  that  distinguished 
William  Henry  Channing.  Universal  broth- 
erhood was  the  only  satisfying  answer  to  the 
questionings  of  his  exacting  mind.  Every  re- 
form that  might  help  toward  this  end  found  an 
ardent  advocate  in  him — whether  it  was  social, 
political  or  religious.  To  the  anti-slavery 
question,  to  woman's  rights,  to  socialism  and 
transcendentalism,  he  gave  himself  with  a  zeal 
not  exceeded  by  that  of  the  leaders  in  these 
matters.  His  was  not  the  mind  to  offer  prac- 
tical methods  of  accomplishment,  but  his  the 
impassioned  word  to  envisage  wrong  and  move 
the  hearts  of  men  to  pity  and  to  justice.  It  is 
[63] 


CHURCH  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

useless  to  try  to  give  any  adequate  idea  of  this 
great-souled  man  in  a  few  words.  As  he  gave 
distinction  to  the  Unitarian  pulpit  in  Washing- 
ton in  a  great  national  crisis,  more  than  casual 
mention  should  be  made  of  him. 

First  of  all  he  was  eminently  a  preacher. 
Christopher  P.  Cranch  has  said  of  him: 

"He  seemed  to  me  then  the  most  eloquent 
and  fervid  of  preachers — all  other  preaching 
was  tame  in  comparison.  I  have  never  seen 
such  purely  intense  aspiration  in  any  speaker. 
It  is  hard  to  describe  a  man  who  seemed  so  per- 
fect. He  would  have  appeared  like  one  of  the 
saints  of  the  old  time  had  not  his  keen,  culti- 
vated but  restless  intellect  and  his  broad,  lib- 
eral tendencies  allied  him  to  all  the  nearest  and 
most  practical  interests  of  life." 

Mr.  Channing's  interest  in  reforms  had 
brought  him  occasionally  to  Washington  and 
he  had  hoped  that  his  ministerial  fortunes 
might  fix  him  here,  but  friends  had  dissuaded 
him  from  such  thought.  In  1854  he  went  to 
Liverpool,  England,  as  minister  at  Renshaw 
Chapel.  Of  his  first  sermon  there,  Mrs. 
Nathaniel  Hawthorne  wrote  to  Channing's 
mother : 

"I  have  never  heard  a  sermon,  not  even 
from  Dr.  Channing  (W.  E.),  so  grand  in  its 
[64] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

scope,  so  complete  in  symmetry  and  propor- 
tion, so  perfect  a  unit  as  a  work  of  art,  and  at 
the  same  time  so  rich  and  tender  in  spirit." 

His  biographer,  O.  B.  Frothingham,  said 
that  "the  churches  where  he  preached  became 
resorts  of  the  most  spiritual  people  and  Uni- 
tarianism  a  name  for  the  loftiest  aspirations." 

The  politics  of  his  native  country  still  en- 
gaged JMr.  Channing's  mind  and  he  watched 
events,  there  most  carefully.  In  1861  he 
came  home  to  visit  his  mother  and  take  a 
closer  look  at  national  affairs,  and  now  there 
was  none  so  bold  as  to  advise  against  his 
taking  the  Washington  pulpit  when  the  chance 
came.  The  hour  called  for  a  leader  of  highest 
rank  in  ability,  loyalty  and  faith,  and  such  was 
Channing.  Temporizing,  if  that  had  been  the 
policy  in  regard  to  the  Washington  church, 
could  be  indulged  in  no  longer.  He  was  in- 
stalled as  minister  on  December  9,  1861.  Of 
him  then,  John  W.  Chadwick  said: 

"There  for  once  was  complete  adjustment 
between  the  man  and  his  environment — as 
minister  of  the  Unitarian  church  converting 
its  building  into  a  hospital;  as  a  worker  in  the 
sanitary  commission,  as  chaplain  of  the  House 
of  Representatives  his  heart  was  wholly  in  his 
work." 

[65] 


CHURCH  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

His  first  Sunday  in  the  church  was  thus  re- 
ported by  the  correspondent  of  The  New  York 
Evening  Post:  "Rev.  Mr.  Channing,  of  Liv- 
erpool, on  Sunday  preached  his  first  ser- 
mon in  the  Unitarian  Church  here  as  regular 
pastor.  The  church  is  not  in  a  very  healthy 
pecuniary  condition,  but  there  are  so  many 
northerners  here  now  that  it  is  expected  they 
will  come  in  and  sustain  a  clergyman  who  is 
alive  to  the  issues  of  the  hour.  Every  time  he 
has  preached  here  the  house  has  been  crowded 
to  inconvenient  fullness,  and  there  is  little 
doubt  that  his  acceptance  of  a  call  to  the  Soci- 
ety will  prove  a  success  in  every  meaning  of  the 
word.  Times  have  changed  since  Mr.  Con- 
way was  forced  to  leave  the  same  church  for 
the  expression  of  anti-slavery  sentiment.  Mr. 
Channing  does  not  hesitate  boldly  to  support 
the  war  from  his  pulpit  nor  to  dwell  at  length 
on  the  causes  of  the  war." 

It  was  his  inspiration  to  suggest  offering  the 
church  building  as  a  hospital.  In  return  for 
the  gift,  promptly  accepted  by  Secretary  Stan- 
ton, the  congregation  was  invited  to  meet  in 
the  Senate  chamber.  Mr.  Channing  was  made 
chaplain  of  the  House  of  Representatives  in 
the  winter  of  1863-64. 

[66] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

He  had  resigned  his  position  in  England, 
but  his  family  remained  there. 

For  the  time,  the  duty  of  both  minister  and 
congregation  was  largely  the  expression  of  loy- 
alty as  shown  in  the  care  of  wounded  and  sick 
soldiers.  It  may  be  assumed  that  the  minis- 
ter let  no  occasion  pass  when  the  utterance  of 
positive  words  might  hold  all  to  the  task  which 
was  great,  or  help  toward  what  he  felt  to  be 
the  only  possible  consunmiation  of  the  war — 
the  abolition  of  slavery. 

As  chaplain  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, JNIr.  Channing  considered  himself  leader 
in  the  People's  Church  with  no  hint  of  sec- 
tarianism. Noted  men  of  various  denomina- 
tions were  asked  to  officiate  there,  and  true  to 
his  convictions  he  made  the  daring  innovation 
of  asking  a  colored  minister  to  speak  on  one 
occasion,  and  a  woman  on  another.  The  lat- 
ter was  Rachel  Howland,  "the  beautiful 
Quaker." 

His  ministrations  to  the  soldiers  were  not  in 
hospitals  only.  He  was  present  at  the  battle 
of  Fredericksburg,  and  there  after  a  day  of 
carnage  baptized  a  dying  boy  who  wished  the 
rite,  and  performed  the  last  service  for  num- 
bers of  hurriedly  buried  dead. 

[67] 


CHURCH  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

At  the  end  of  the  war  and  after  the  deatli 
of  Lincoln,  worn  in  mind  and  body  Mr.  Chan- 
ning  decided  to  return  to  England.  Great 
preacher  that  he  was,  he  was  not  suited  to  par- 
ish routine  nor  the  work  of  gathering  together 
a  scattered  charge.  His  family  was  com- 
pletely anglicized  and  held  a  place  deserv- 
edly in  the  ranks  of  the  most  cultivated.  His 
son,  Francis  Allston  Channing,  graduated 
from  Oxford  with  honors.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  House  of  Commons  from  1885  to  1910. 
In  1912  he  was  made  first  Baron  Channing  of 
Wellingborough,  and  is  known  according 
to  the  English  custom  as  Francis  Allston, 
Lord  Channing.  One  of  the  daughters  of  the 
Rev.  William  H.  Channing  married  Edwin 
Arnold,  author  of  The  Light  of  Asia.  The  re- 
mainder of  Mr.  Channing's  life  was  passed 
most  congenially  in  England.  He  never  lost 
interest  in  new  phases  of  religious  experience, 
and  his  religious  affinities  were  bounded  on  one 
side  by  Martineau  and  on  the  other  by  Car- 
dinal Manning.  He  made  frequent  visits  to 
America,  but  he  died  in  England  in  October, 
1884. 

The  First  Church  building  was  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  government  for  six  months,  as 
is  shown  in  a  circular  issued  by  the  Commit- 
[68] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

tee  of  Management  for  the  year  1863,  which 
said:  "The  Unitarian  Church  will  be  re- 
opened for  religious  service  next  Sunday,  Feb- 
ruary 1st,"  and  also,  "Earnestly  as  we  shall 
always  rejoice  to  remember  that  in  a  time  of 
national  calamity  our  House  of  Worship  was 
offered  and  accepted  as  a  home  for  sick  and 
wounded  soldiers,  yet  it  will  be  with  the  deep- 
est gratification  that  we  shall  return  after  six 
months'  exile  to  a  sanctuary  made  dearer  than 
ever  by  deeds  of  charity  in  which  it  has  been  the 
privilege  of  many  of  our  friends  and  members 
to  participate."  While  as  a  body  the  congre- 
gation gave  their  church  to  the  government, 
as  individuals  in  several  instances  they  made 
their  own  houses  into  hospitals  and  convales- 
cent homes,  or  entered  upon  the  work  of  nurs- 
ing under  the  Sanitary  Commission. 

The  Johnson-Donaldson  home  at  506 
Twelfth  Street  N.  W.  and  the  hospital  at 
Twelfth  and  E  Streets  fitted  up  and  managed 
by  these  ladies  were  long  held  in  grateful  re- 
membrance by  men  who  had  there  experienced 
the  kindly  ministrations  of  the  patriotic  own- 
ers. 

One  church  member  was  left  in  charge  of  the 
savings  of  a  soldier  when  he  returned  to  the 
front  after  a  time  of  convalescence  in  her  home. 
[69] 


CHURCH  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

At  the  close  of  the  war,  every  effort  was  made 
to  find  the  man  or  to  learn  his  fate,  but  with 
no  success.  In  the  course  of  time,  the  money 
was  made  the  nucleus  of  a  Unitarian  mission 
fund  by  the  lady  with  whom  it  had  been  left. 
With  additions  secured  by  her  untiring  devo- 
tion during  life,  and  by  her  will  at  death, 
it  now  constitutes  the  Rebecca  Wallace 
Unity  Mission  Fund. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  A.  Bacon  were  co- 
workers with  their  friend,  Walt  Whitman,  in 
the  hospitals. 

Mrs.  Lucy  A.  Doolittle  was  a  hospital  visi- 
tor under  the  Sanitary  Commission  during  the 
war.  Later,  when  the  retreating  tide  of  war 
left  Washington  strewn  with  the  human  flot- 
sam and  jetsam  of  two  armies,  she  rendered 
an  equally  valuable  service.  It  was  largely 
due  to  her  exposition  of  conditions  which  her 
work  among  these  unfortunates  revealed  to  her 
that  a  police  court  was  established  whereby 
they  might  obtain  prompt  and  just  treatment. 
It  is  a  rather  significant  coincidence  that  the 
church  in  which  she  worshipped  should  later 
be  the  place  of  its  dispensation. 

One  of  the  most  efficient  nurses  and  man- 
agers during  the  Civil  War  was  Miss  Amy 
Bradley.  Her  work  is  comparable  to  that  of 
[70] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

Dorothea  Dix,  being  on  a  large  scale.  She 
was  stationed  on  the  transport  boats  which 
brought  the  wounded  from  the  battlefields  in 
the  Peninsular  campaign.  From  1862  until 
the  end  of  the  war  she  was  in  charge  of.  a  con- 
valescent camp  at  Alexandria,  Virginia.  In 
her  last  years  IMiss  Bradley  made  her  home  in 
Washington,  where  she  had  many  friends,  and 
was  one  of  the  congregation  of  All  Souls. 

Captain  Frank  E.  Brownell,  who  in  the 
very  first  days  of  the  war  of  secession  avenged 
the  murder  of  his  Colonel,  Elmer  Ellsworth, 
in  Alexandria,  was  in  after  years  a  member 
of  the  congregation  of  All  Souls.  At  his 
death  he  made  the  church  a  bequest  for  char- 
ities. 


[71] 


CHAPTER  VII 

RECONSTRUCTION    PERIOD 

At  the  close  of  the  four  years  of  civil  war, 
the  Unitarian  Society  was  exhausted,  divided 
and  scattered.  Yet  the  new  life  which  began 
soon  thereafter  to  invigorate  the  nation  was 
not  without  effect  upon  it,  and  after  a  while 
the  society  also  began  to  respond  to  the  time- 
spirit.  The  ministries  of  Sharman  and  Hinck- 
ley, with  many  temporary  supplies,  filled  the 
years  from  1867  to  1877. 

For  six  months  of  the  year  1865,  the  Rev. 
Rufus  P.  Stebbins  was  associated  with  the 
First  Church  as  its  minister.  He  was  a  man 
of  decided  personality  and  it  may  be  assumed 
that  the  time  of  his  service  was  not  a  dull  one 
for  those  who  listened  to  his  preaching  or  met 
him  in  society.  Of  himself  in  his  first  settle- 
ment, he  once  said:  "I  was  fresh  from  the 
seclusion  of  student  life,  ablaze  with  enthu- 
siasm, flaming  with  zeal  to  correct  all  evils.  I 
was  restless,  aggressive,  belligerent."  Time 
and  experience  may  have  tempered  these  char- 
[72] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

acteristics  but  did  not  obliterate  them.  At  the 
time  he  preached  in  Washington,  he  was  fifty- 
seven  years  old.  Harvard  had  lately  given 
him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity.  He 
had  been  President  of  ^Nleadville  Theological 
School  twelve  years.  After  his  short  service 
here,  he  was  made  President  of  the  American 
Unitarian  Association.  He  was  six  years  at 
Ithaca,  New  York,  and  at  a  time  when  most 
men  wish  to  retire  from  active  life  he  reorgan- 
ized the  church  of  Xewton  Center,  Massachu- 
setts. He  died  in  Cambridge  in  1885.  His 
cousin,  Horatio  Stebbins,  wrote  of  him:  "He 
delighted  in  the  Commandments  and  his  hon- 
est, indignant  soul  would  have  liked  it  better 
if  there  had  been  three  or  four  more."  Dr. 
Shippen  said  of  him:  "God  was  to  him  no  vi- 
sionary abstraction  but  a  living  presence  clearly 
seen  in  human  history  and  life;  his  law  run- 
ning its  line  through  earth  and  eternity.  His 
religion  was  no  mere  theory  of  the  pulpit  but 
a  vital  experience — a  principle  of  duty  solid 
as  the  granite." 

The  Rev.  William  Sharman  was  an  English- 
man, educated  at  Sheffield  for  the  ^Methodist 
ministry.  After  becoming  a  Unitarian,  and 
before  he  came  to  America,  he  was  located  at 
Aberdeen,  Scotland.  He  was  with  the  Wash- 
[73] 


RECONSTRUCTION  PERIOD 

ington  church  during  the  years  from  1868  to 
1870.  As  in  other  instances,  the  records  of 
the  First  Church  afford  very  Kttle  information 
as  to  the  minister  at  this  time.  Mr.  Sharman 
held  other  short  pastorates  in  America,  and 
was  for  a  time  engaged  in  business  in  Texas. 
He  returned  to  England  in  the  seventies  and 
preached  at  Plymouth  and  at  Preston.  He 
died  at  the  latter  place  in  1889.  While  in 
Washington,  Mr.  Sharman  was  unmarried. 
In  1873  he  married,  in  New  York  City,  the 
lady — Miss  Sophia  Jackson  Russell — who  sur- 
vived him  until  the  spring  of  1921.  Of  them 
both,  the  London  Inquirer  of  May  7,  1921, 
said:  "Mr.  Sharman  will  be  remembered  by 
our  older  readers  as  keenly  interested  in  social 
reform  and  a  powerful  preacher,  while  tender 
memories  gather  about  the  name  of  her  who 
has  now  joined  him  after  her  long  widowhood." 
Mr.  W.  C.  Russell,  of  the  Philadelphia  Re- 
cord, whose  brother-in-law  he  was,  writes  of 
Mr.  Sharman:  "He  was  a  friend  and  fol- 
lower of  William  JMorris,  the  poet.  He  took 
active  part  in  campaigns  directed  against 
social  and  religious  evils  and  he  had  many 
friends  in  the  English  Labor  party." 

In  1870,  the  Rev.  Frederic  Hinckley  was 
chosen  as  minister.     He  had  held  pastorates  in 
[74] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

various  places  in  New  England  and  in  the 
State  of  New  York.  He  was  an  able  man  and 
made  many  friends  in  Washington.  Soon 
after  Mr.  Hinckley's  settlement  with  the  First 
Church,  the  matter  of  a  better  building  began 
to  be  seriously  considered  by  both  the  Wash- 
ington organization  and  the  American  Uni- 
tarian Association.  There  was  some  discus- 
sion of  the  question  in  the  Christian  Register. 
At  the  Conference  of  1872,  Mr.  Hinckley 
made  a  proposition  to  the  denomination,  which 
was  presumably  the  expression  of  the  will  of 
the  Washington  congregation.  He  said  that 
the  people  would  sell  the  old  church,  and  raise 
what  they  could  besides  what  the  building 
would  bring,  if  the  Association  would  contrib- 
ute $50,000.  With  the  money  thus  obtained, 
they  would  build  a  church  which  the  Associa- 
tion should  hold  in  its  own  right,  giving  Wash- 
ington people  its  use  under  such  regulations 
and  conditions  as  might  be  adopted.  As  usual, 
the  point  was  made  that  Washington  was 
a  missionary  field.  It  was  a  place  not  for 
gathering  but  for  scattering;  not  for  accumu- 
lation but  for  diffusion.  The  motion  by  means 
of  which  the  matter  was  presented  called  forth 
many  remarks.  The  report  of  the  day's  pro- 
ceedings is  interesting  and  enlightening. 
[751 


RECONSTRUCTION  PERIOD 

Every  one  acknowledged  the  need  of  a  larger 
and  better  building.  Very  plain  statements 
were  made  as  to  the  unattractiveness,  not  to 
say  positive  meanness,  of  the  little  church 
which  in  1822  had  seemed  so  suitable.  Thus 
has  church  history  repeated  itself  to  the  third 
generation  in  Washington.  One  speaker 
spurned  any  idea  of  a  fine  national  church,  as 
it  would  probably  be  a  stone  elephant  on  the 
hands  of  the  denomination.  Others  would 
consent  to  no  help  for  a  church  to  be  managed 
by  local  Unitarians.  A  weighty  consideration 
in  the  mind  of  one  speaker  was  the  possible 
early  removal  of  the  Capital  to  a  more  nearly 
central  part  of  the  country.  In  such  event,  a 
fine  church  would  be  sacrificed.  Among  them' 
all,  one  had  the  discernment  which  led  him 
to  say  that  what  was  needed  was  a  good  church 
building  and  continuous  pastoral  supervision 
of  the  Society.  Nothing  resulted  from  this 
discussion  and  the  Washington  church  settled 
down  to  make  the  best  of  what  it  had  and  to 
try  to  become  self-sustaining.  The  united  ef- 
forts of  the  congregation  toward  this  end 
would  seem  to  have  developed  a  strong  social 
bond  which  made  the  time  memorable.  Such 
is  the  verdict  of  some  of  those  yet  remaining 
from  those  days.  But  in  these  years  occurred 
[76] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

a  schism  in  the  church,  which  resulted  for  a 
time  in  two  congregations.  What  its  cause  or 
nature  was  is  now  hard  to  determine,  if  indeed 
it  be  worth  while  to  try  to  do  so.  In  spite  of  the 
fact  that  mistakes  probably  were  made  and  in- 
justice possibly  was  done,  it  is  for  the  church 
of  today  to  be  grateful  that  out  of  disunion  has 
come  union.  Whatever  the  differences  were, 
whether  of  belief  or  administration,  they  were 
overcome  by  the  permanent  withdrawal  of  some 
members  and  the  return  of  others  after  the  re- 
organization of  the  church  in  1877. 


[77] 


CHAPTER  VIII 


ALL  SOULS  CHURCH 


By  the  early  seventies,  the  growth  of  the 
capital  city  had  rendered  the  location  as  well 
as  the  building  of  the  First  Church  undesir- 
able, and  the  possibility  of  removal  to  a  spot 
farther  from  the  center  of  the  city's  activities 
began  to  be  considered.  With  the  help  of  the 
denomination  at  large  and  of  the  American 
Unitarian  Association,  such  removal  was 
brought  about  and  on  June  27,  1877,  the  cor- 
ner stone  of  a  new  church  building  was  laid 
at  the  southeast  corner  of  Fourteenth  and  L 
Streets,  eight  squares  west  and  seven  north  of 
the  first  location.  There  was  objection  on  the 
part  of  some  members  because  of  the  remote- 
ness of  this  location.  The  estimated  cost  of 
the  church  and  lot  was  sixty  thousand  dollars, 
of  which  one-half  was  to  be  furnished  by  the 
Washington  Society  and  one-half  by  the 
American  Unitarian  Association.  The  denom- 
ination was  appealed  to  for  money  for  the  pur- 
pose and  nearly  twenty-five  thousand  dollars 

[78] 


All  Souls  Church,  1877 
Fourteenth  and  L  Streets,  N.  W. 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

was  pledged  by  church  delegates  present  at  the 
Unitarian  Conference  at  Saratoga,  New  York, 
in  September,  1876.  From  its  treasury  the 
American  Unitarian  Association  completed  the 
$25,000  and  from  the  Winn  Bequest,  made  to 
the  denomination  about  that  time,  its  trustees 
allowed  ten  thousand  dollars  to  the  Washing- 
ton project.  The  amount  to  be  raised  by  the 
church  was  thus  reduced  to  twenty-five  thou- 
sand dollars,  but  the  mortgage  given  to  the 
American  Unitarian  Association  was  for  $35,- 
000  instead  of  $30,000.  This  mortgage  was 
to  prevent  possible  alienation  of  the  church 
from  its  purpose  and  to  secure  it  to  the  Uni- 
tarian denomination.  It  was  unlimited  in 
time,  drew  no  interest  and  was  to  be  held  in 
perpetual  trust  by  the  Association.  It  was 
not  until  July  1,  1880,  that  the  old  church  was 
sold  and  the  new  organization  became  free 
from  debt. 

On  June  4,  1877,  the  First  Church  reorgan- 
ized under  the  name  of  All  Souls  Church  and 
as  such  it  has  been  known  since  the  dedication 
of  the  new  building  on  January  29,  1878. 
The  sermon  on  that  occasion  was  delivered  by 
Rev.  Henry  W.  Bellows,  minister  of  All  Souls' 
Church  of  New  York  City,  a  man  of  national 
fame  as  president  of  the  United  States  Sani- 
[79] 


ALL  SOULS  CHURCH 

tary  Commission  during  the  Civil  War.  The 
opening  of  that  sermon  proved  that  Dr.  Bel- 
lows, at  least,  believed  that  the  First  Church 
had  lived  up  to  Mr.  Little's  hope  for  it  half  a 
century  before,  since  he  said: 

"If  the  shining  record  of  the  men  of  influ- 
ence, culture  and  character ;  women  of  dignity, 
purity,  and  saintliness,  who  have  witnessed 
their  faith  in  its  truth  and  power,  and  borne 
the  cross  of  its  reputed  heresy — if  this  record 
could  be  properly  read  here  and  now,  it  would 
prove  how  great  and  good  is  the  company  al- 
ready translated  to  which  you  belong." 

The  sermon  ended  with  this  petition : 

*'May  this  church  stand  openly,  and  while 
its  walls  shall  endure,  the  church  of  those  who 
honor  and  practice  the  widest  and  most  search- 
ing use  of  God's  greatest  gift — Reason." 

The  installation  of  the  Rev.  Clay  Mac- 
Cauley  as  minister  took  place  on  January  30, 
1878.  After  the  reorganization  of  the  So- 
ciety, the  First  Church  Building  was  rented, 
and  finally  sold  to  the  District  Government 
which  used  it  as  a  police  court  until  it  was  torn 
down  in  1906. 

The  last  sermon  in  the  First  Church  was 
preached  by  Dr.  MacCauley  on  May  27,  1877. 
[80] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

The  text  was  Genesis  xii,  7,  8:  The  Lord 
appeared  unto  Abraham  and  said,  'Unto  thy 
seed  will  I  give  this  land' :  and  there  builded  he 
an  altar  unto  the  Lord.  And  he  removed  from 
thence  unto  a  mountain  on  the  east  of  Bethel 
and  there  he  builded  an  altar  unto  the  Lord." 
Its  theme  was  life's  progress  from  form  to 
form.  Lentil  the  completion  of  All  Souls 
Church,  the  congregation  met  in  Willard  Hall, 
a  small  building  on  F  Street  back  of  the  old 
Willard  Hotel  on  Pennsylvania  Avenue.  Mr. 
Seth  Hyatt  was  the  only  original  member  of 
the  First  Church  who  was  living  when  All 
Souls  was  built. 

The  character  of  the  membership  or  laity  of 
the  Unitarian  Church  did  not  change  when  the 
name  of  All  Souls  was  adopted.  The  two 
Piresidents  who  attended  the  First  Church, 
John  Quincy  Adams  and  INIillard  Fillmore, 
were  succeeded  in  All  Souls  Church  by  Wil- 
liam Howard  Taft. 

Cabinet  Secretaries  Webster,  Nathan  K. 
Hall  and  Calhoun  have  been  followed  by 
George  S.  Boutwell,  William  E.  Chandler, 
John  D.  Long  and  John  W.  Weeks. 

In  the  Senate  the  First  Church  was  repre- 
sented by  Webster,  Sumner,  Edward  Everett 
Hale  of  New  Hampshire,  Howe  of  Wiscon- 
[81] 


ALL  SOULS  CHURCH 

sin  and  Fairfield  of  Maine,  while  members 
there  from  All  Souls  have  been  Morrill  of 
Vermont,  George  F.  Hoar,  George  C.  Moody, 
Anthony,  Allison,  Pike,  William  E.  Mason, 
Thomas  W.  Palmer,  Burnside,  Burrows, 
Fletcher  and  Townsend. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives  the  two 
churches  have  had  Upham,  J.  G.  Palfrey, 
Davis,  Stone,  Banks,  Ketcham,  Baker,  Bar- 
rows, Stevens,  William  Everett,  Thomas  D. 
Eliot,  Hoar,  Horr,  Hazleton,  Roberts,  Kent 
and  Luce. 

In  the  judiciary,  Associate  Justice  Joseph 
Story  has  been  followed  by  Associate  Justice 
Samuel  F.  Miller,  while  Judge  William 
Cranch  has  had  a  successor  in  Judge  William 
A.  Richardson.  The  later  years  of  All  Souls 
have  been  honored  by  the  membership  of  Judge 
Martin  A.  Knapp.  Judicial  honor  for  the 
Unitarian  Church  culminated  in  the  appoint- 
ment of  Chief  Justice  William  Howard 
Taft. 

The  historian,  George  Bancroft,  was  an  at- 
tendant at  both  churches. 

Dorman  B.  Eaton,  civil  service  reformer; 

Carroll  D.  Wright,  authority  in  economics,  and 

Lester  F.  Ward,  celebrated  in  sociology,  have 

been  more  or  less  active  members  of  All  Souls. 

L82.1 


A  CEXTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

Mr.  Wright  served  as  Chairman  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees.  Among  educators  have  been 
George  J.  Abbott,  principal  of  a  private 
school,  member  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  pub- 
lic schools  in  their  earliest  days;  W.  B.  Powell, 
Superintendent  of  Schools,  whose  name 
appears  in  the  list  of  church  members  from 
188G  to  1900,  inclusive;  and  Mrs.  Frederic  A. 
Holton.  ]\Ir.  Abbott  was  confidential  secre- 
tary to  Daniel  Webster  when  Secretary  of 
State  in  Fillmore's  cabinet.  Of  him  his  friend, 
Edward  Everett  Hale,  has  said:  "He  was 
one  of  the  men  who  was  ready  to  help  the 
world  forward  in  anj^  way  he  could,  and  was 
a  distinguished  agent  in  helping  it  forward 
though  his  name  scarcely  ever  appears  in 
print."  Mr.  George  J.  Abbott  is  commemo- 
rated in  the  city  of  Washington  by  a  public 
school  building  which  bears  his  name.  Dr. 
Percival  Hall,  president  of  Gallaudet  College, 
and  Prof.  Edward  A.  Fay,  and  Prof.  C.  R. 
Ely  of  its  faculty  have  been  numbered  for 
many  years  among  the  active  members  of  All 
Souls  Church. 

Ainsworth  R.  Spofford  and  Bernard  R. 
Green  have  represented  the  Library  of  Con- 
gress. 

The  scientific  world  has  had  most  able  rep- 
[83] 


ALL  SOULS  CHURCH 

resentation  in  both  churches  by  William  Fer- 
rel,  noted  in  meteorology;  Asaph  Hall,  well 
known  in  astronomy;  Spencer  F.  Baird,  and 
Charles  V.  Riley.  Living  representatives  are 
Henry  S.  Pritchett,  Dr.  Robert  S.  Woodward, 
Dr.  Wm.  H.  Dall,  P^rof.  F.  W.  Clarke  and 
Dr.  Louis  A.  Bauer.  The  list  of  scientific 
names  worthy  of  mention  is  too  long  to  be 
given  in  its  entirety. 

From  the  Navy  have  come  Woodhull, 
Walker,  Evans,  Schroeder,  Wainwright, 
Clark,  Taussig  (father  and  son),  Deering, 
Hanscom,  Cutter,  Canaga,  Pook,  Bright  and 
Flint;  from  the  Army,  Saxton,  Batchelder, 
Smith,  Greely,  Wood,  Baxter,  Pelouze,  Tan- 
ner, Woodruff  and  Newcomer. 

Sumner  I.  Kimball,  long  prominent  in  the 
organization  and  management  of  the  Life  Sav- 
ing Service,  has  been  quite  as  long  a  member  of 
All  Souls. 

The  Rev.  Moncure  D.  Conway  has  men- 
tioned as  one  of  his  hearers  Helen  Hunt,  wife 
of  Captain  Edward  Hunt,  and  has  spoken  of 
her  as  a  bright,  vivacious  woman,  inclined  to 
ridicule  any  one  with  a  mission.  Being  led  by 
great  sorrow  to  a  more  serious  view  of  life,  she 
became  the  apostle  of  justice  to  the  American 
Indian.  Later  she  married  Mr.  W.  S.  Jack- 
[84] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

son  of  Colorado  Springs,  and  was  well  known 
under  the  nom  de  plume  of  "H.  H." 

The  congregation  of  All  Souls  includes 
Miss  Alice  C.  Fletcher,  ethnologist,  versed  in 
Indian  lore,  whose  life  has  been  largely  devoted 
to  research  in  the  traditions,  customs,  religions, 
ceremonies  and  music  of  the  Indian,  and  to 
practical  means  of  promoting  his  civilization 
and  education.  Her  worth  has  been  recog- 
nized by  the  government,  which  has  made  her  a 
special  agent  in  Indian  affairs  in  several  im- 
portant instances. 

For  many  years  the  Unitarian  congregation 
of  Washington  contained  two  men  of  great 
distinction  in  national  affairs.  They  were  the 
Honorable  Justin  S.  Morrill,  of  Vermont,  and 
the  Honorable  George  F.  Hoar,  of  Massa- 
chusetts. Neither  of  them  took  active  part 
in  the  management  of  the  church,  but  their  reg- 
ular attendance  at  the  Sunday  services  was 
proof  of  interest  and  sympathy.  Members  of 
their  families  were  identified  with  the  affairs 
of  the  church. 

JNIr.  jNIorrill  came  to  Washington  as  member 
of  the  House  of  Representatives  in  1855.  He 
may  have  been  one  of  the  congregation  of  the 
First  Church.  He  is  known  as  a  member  of 
All  Souls  from  its  earliest  days.  He  died  in 
[85] 


ALL  SOULS  CHURCH 

Washington  in  1898.  It  may  well  be  a  mat- 
ter of  pride  to  future  members  of  All  Souls, 
as  it  is  to  many  of  its  present  members,  that 
a  man  whose  name  is  held  in  especial  honor  in 
every  State  of  the  Union  was  so  long  one  of 
the  church's  devoted  adherents.  It  was  ow- 
ing to  Mr.  Morrill's  persistent  efforts  for  sev- 
eral years  that  the  act  bearing  his  name  was 
passed  by  Congress  in  1862.  That  act  made 
possible  the  establishment  of  State  colleges 
which  should  receive  federal  aid.  Besides  the 
Morrill  Act  which  is  considered  one  of  the 
epoch-making  acts  of  the  American  nation. 
Senator  Morrill  was  the  author  of  statutes 
which  resulted  in  the  extension  of  the  Capitol 
grounds;  the  erection  of  the  State,  War  and 
Navy  Building  and  the  Library  of  Congress. 
Mr.  JNIorrill  was  a  leader  in  the  financial  policy 
of  the  government  during  the  Civil  War. 
The  dignified  presence  of  this  noted  man  at 
the  services  of  All  Souls  is  a  beautiful  as  well 
as  a  proud  memory  for  many  of  her  members. 
The  genial  face  of  Senator  Hoar,  as  seen 
at  the  Sunday  service  of  the  church,  is  another 
pleasant  memory  for  many  of  the  people  of  All 
Souls.  Senator  Hoar  came  to  Washington  in 
1868  and  may  have  been  an  attendant  of  the 
First  Church.     His  name  is  connected  with  the 

[86] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

history  of  All  Souls  from  1877.  At  the  meet- 
ing of  the  Unitarian  Conference  in  Washing- 
ton in  October,  1899,  Senator  Hoar  gave  the 
address  of  welcome.  This  was  a  notable  event 
for  the  church  and  the  denomination.  He 
said  then:  "I  think  there  can  be  found  in  the 
country  no  sectarianism  so  narrow,  so  hide- 
bound, so  dogma-clad,  that  it  would  like  to 
blot  out  from  the  history  of  our  country  what 
the  people  of  our  faith  have  contributed  to  it. 
On  the  first  roll  of  this  Washington  parish 
will  be  found  close  together  the  names  of  John 
Quincy  Adams  and  John  C.  Calhoun.  John 
Quincy  Adams  learned  from  his  father  and 
mother  the  liberal  Christian  faith  which  he  in 
turn  transmitted  to  his  illustrious  son.  If  we 
would  blot  out  Unitarianism  from  the  history 
of  the  country,  we  must  erase  the  names  of 
many  famous  statesmen,  many  famous  phi- 
lanthropists, many  great  reformers,  many 
great  orators,  many  famous  soldiers  from  its 
annals,  and  nearly  all  of  our  great  poets  from 
its  literature." 

The  Honorable  Samuel  F.  Miller,  Associate 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  from  July,  1862, 
until  October,  1890,  was  a  gentleman  of  high 
position  who  was  willing  to  serve  All  Souls 
in  the  capacity  of  trustee.  Justice  Miller  was 
[87] 


ALL  SOULS  CHURCH 

a  contemporary  of  Abraham  Lincoln  and  a 
fine  example  of  the  typical  citizen  of  that  time. 
He  was  of  immense  physical  stature.  He  was 
born  in  Kentucky,  but  entered  the  Supreme 
Court  from  Iowa.  He  was  appointed  to  the 
bench  by  President  Lincoln.  It  has  been  said 
of  him  that  "from  the  time  of  taking  his  seat 
until  his  death  Justice  Miller  was  regarded  not 
perhaps  as  the  most  enlightened,  certainly  not 
the  most  learned,  but  it  is  believed  as  the 
strongest  man  on  the  bench  and  as  one  who 
united  integrity  with  conviction."  Justice 
Miller  was  three  years  President  of  the  Amer- 
ican Unitarian  Association.  He  was  one  of 
the  founders  of  the  Unitarian  Church  of  Keo- 
kuk, Iowa. 

The  Honorable  William  E.  Chandler  was  a 
faithful  member  of  the  Unitarian  Church  dur- 
ing his  public  and  private  life  in  Washington. 
In  the  midst  of  the  affairs  that  pertain  to  a 
cabinet  Secretary  and  a  Senator,  he  found 
time  to  lend  his  aid  in  the  management  of  the 
church. 

A  coincidence  worthy  of  record  in  the  an- 
nals of  All  Souls  is  that  the  Honorable  Wil- 
liam E.  Chandler  and  General  A.  W.  Greely 
have  been  members  of  her  Board  of  Trustees. 
In  1884,  while  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Mr. 
[88] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

Chandler  was  responsible  for  the  rescue  of 
Lieutenant  Greely  from  the  perilous  Arctic  ex- 
pedition he  had  undertaken  two  years  before. 
Another  member  of  the  United  States  Sen- 
ate wlio  has  honored  All  Souls  by  his  presence 
and  his  counsel  is  the  Honorable  Duncan  U. 
Fletcher,  of  Florida. 


[89] 


CHAPTER  IX 

CIVIC   AND  DENOMINATIONAL   ACTIVITIES 

Not  all  the  members  of  the  Unitarian 
Church  in  Washington  have  been  celebrities. 
There  has  been  as  well  a  sturdy  rank  and  file 
who  have  given  time  and  work  and  thought 
without  stint,  and  money  as  they  were  able, 
to  its  proper  maintenance  and  develop- 
ment. 

The  church  has  been  fortunate  in  selecting 
as  trustees  men  and  women  of  executive  abil- 
ity, versed  in  the  traditions  of  Unitarianism, 
and  imbued  with  faith  in  its  future.  It  has 
been  their  policy  to  regulate  the  financial  af- 
fairs of  the  Society  by  the  rules  that  govern 
those  of  secular  or  commercial  institutions. 

With  good  preaching  and  sound  financing  a 
church  is  well  equipped,  but  it  is  still  necessary 
that  the  members  be  ready  and  quick  to  follow 
their  leaders,  or  to  suggest  means  and  methods 
for  efficient  promulgation  and  practice  of  the 
principles  professed.  In  short,  a  Unitarian 
church  must  show  by  its  life  in  a  community 
[90] 


The  Reverend  Clay  MacCauley  (1877-1880) 
from  painting  by  Hazard,  presented  by  Dr.  MacCauley 
to  be  hung  in  the  Edward  Everett  Hale  Parish  House 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

that  its  professions  are  not  vain.  Therefore 
this  Unitarian  church  has  tried  always  to  be 
engaged  in  some  work  for  humanity. 

Of  systematic  charity  and  philanthropy 
there  is  a  clear  record  since  the  beginning  of 
All  Souls  Church.  In  the  partition  of  duties 
at  that  time,  "benevolent  work"  was  assigned 
to  the  Ladies'  Sewing  Society,  but  would  seem 
to  have  been  a  little  later  assumed  by  the  In- 
dustrial School  Committee  whose  reports  for 
several  years  reveal  what  was  done  in  that  line 
by  the  women  of  the  church.  The  Industrial 
School  had  been  carried  on  by  the  First  Church 
for  some  time  as  a  mission  school  in  George- 
town. On  the  completion  of  the  new  church 
in  1878,  it  was  brought  there  and  re-named 
"The  Industrial  School."  It  was  really  a  sew- 
ing school  for  girls,  and  some  pupils  were  en- 
abled to  gain  a  living  because  of  the  instruc- 
tion received  there.  The  school  was  given  up 
when  in  1887  a  greater  opportunity  offered  in 
the  establishment  of  a  Day  Nursery,  a  Kin- 
dergarten and  later  a  sewing  class,  at  the 
Miner  Building  in  South  Washington. 

Members  of  the  First  Church  had  been  ac- 
tively interested  in  ^lyrtilla  Miner  and  her 
heroic  efforts  before  the  Civil  War  in  start- 
ing in  Washington  a  school  for  colored  youth. 
[91] 


DENOMINATIONAL  ACTIVITIES 

When  the  trustees  of  the  Miner  Fund,  among 
whom  were  the  minister  and  several  members 
of  All  Souls,  bought  in  South  Washington  a 
large  building  with  the  intention  of  establish- 
ing there  "an  educational  and  industrial  insti- 
tution for  the  colored  race,"  it  seemed  almost 
imperative  that  All  Souls  should  help  in  the 
undertaking.  In  this  they  were  aided  by 
many  outside  the  Unitarian  Church.  These 
new  activities  were  directed  by  the  Charity 
Committee  of  the  Parish  Union  rather  than 
by  the  Industrial  School  Committee.  The 
Charity  Committee  of  the  Parish  Union  after- 
ward became  the  Charity  Committee  of  the 
Church,  for  several  years  a  standing  commit- 
tee. 

In  1891  the  Committee  extended  its  work 
by  instituting  a  kindergarten  in  the  Potomac 
School  building,  also  in  South  Washington. 
This  was  done  with  the  avowed  hope  that  it 
might  furnish  an  example  which  the  District 
Government  would  follow  in  the  addition  of 
kindergartens  to  the  public  school  system — 
and  the  hope  was  not  a  vain  one.  W.  B. 
Powell,  at  that  time  Superintendent  of  Schools 
in  Washington,  was  a  member  of  All  Souls 
Church  who  expressed  his  gratification  at  this 
[92] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

deed  and  helped  the  committee  always  by 
counsel  and  encouragement.  The  entire  main- 
tenance of  the  various  enterprises  at  the  jNIiner 
Building  was  assumed  by  the  trustees  of  the 
Fund  in  1894,  leaving  the  people  of  All  Souls 
free  to  work  elsewhere. 

The  next  opportunity  that  offered  to  the 
Charity  Committee  was  that  of  supporting  one 
of  the  nurses  employed  by  the  Instructive  Vis- 
iting Nurse  Society,  which  began  operating  in 
the  District  of  Columbia  in  1900.  The 
amount  of  money  necessary  was  $700  a  year 
and  the  equipment  of  a  "Loan  Closet"  for  use 
of  the  nurse.  After  some  consideration  it  was 
decided  to  make  this  the  future  work  of  the 
committee,  as  it  was  felt  that  in  no  better  way 
could  the  church  become  a  living  presence  in 
the  community.  The  funds  were  soon  raised 
and  for  twenty  years  the  account  with  the  In- 
structive Visiting  Nurse  Association  has  been 
an  important  item  in  the  report  of  the  Treas- 
urer of  All  Souls.  Here  again  the  way  of 
duty  seemed  plain  to  the  committee.  The  In- 
structive Visiting  Nurse  Association  owed  its 
existence  largely  to  the  generosity  of  a  mem- 
ber of  All  Souls  and  it  was  fitting  that  the 
church  should  be  the  first  to  pay  an  entire  sal- 
[93] 


DENOMINATIONAL  ACTIVITIES 

ary  of  a  nurse  and  thus  help  to  secure  success 
for  a  philanthropy  whose  need  and  worth  were 
most  apparent. 

By  means  of  funds  coming  into  its  treasury 
from  bequests  left  it  for  philanthropic  pur- 
poses, the  church  has  lately  begun  the  support 
of  a  Visiting  Housekeeper  who,  under  the  di- 
rection of  the  Associated  Charities,  tries  to 
teach  better  methods  of  domestic  economy  to 
those  who  from  lack  of  such  knowledge  are 
liable  to  and  often  do  become  dependent  upon 
public  charity. 

Philanthropy  in  All  Souls  has  not  been  lim- 
ited to  what  may  be  called  these  official  in- 
stances. Every  organization  of  the  church  has 
had  its  own  adventures  in  philanthropy,  no- 
tably the  Lend-a-Hand  Society,  which  since 
its  formation  in  1890  has  been  true  to  its  name 
in  all  sorts  of  humanitarian  offices. 

Social  settlements  in  Washington  have  en- 
gaged the  active  attention  of  the  Women's  Al- 
liance more  or  less  for  several  years.  After 
experimenting  with  one  under  its  own  manage- 
ment, it  was  decided  to  be  better  to  help  a  set- 
tlement already  established  and  needing  aid 
than  to  form  another. 

Another  experiment  in  social  work  was  a 
mission  for  boys,  located  on  Fourteenth  Street 
[94] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

near  Boundary  Street.  For  some  time  a  kin- 
dergarten for  colored  children  was  maintained 
in  a  Lutheran  church  on  Eighth  Street.  The 
mission  received  help  from  different  organiza- 
tions of  the  church,  particularly  the  Twentieth 
Century  Club.  The  kindergarten  was  under 
the  management  of  the  Charity  Committee. 

The  trustees  have  contributed  to  the  in- 
dustrial schools  at  Calhoun,  Alabama,  and  Ma- 
nassas, Virginia.  Ministers  and  members  of 
the  church  have  held  important  positions  in  the 
management  of  the  latter  school. 

The  record  given  would  seem  to  indicate  that 
the  Unitarian  Church  has  been  a  not  incon- 
siderable asset  to  the  District  of  Columbia 
since  1877.  Its  ministers  and  its  members 
have  served  on  the  governing  boards  of  many 
of  the  most  important  educational,  social  and 
philanthropic  enterprises  of  the  Capital. 
More  than  this,  they  have  been  pioneers  in  ad- 
vanced methods  in  all  these  lines.  They  were 
leaders  in  the  formation  of  the  Associated 
Charities;  the  Board  of  Guardians  for  De- 
pendent Children;  the  Reform  School  for  girls; 
the  introduction  of  kindergartens;  the  Hu- 
mane Society;  the  Diet  Kitchen;  the  Juvenile 
Protective  Association ;  as  well  as  the  two  phi- 
lanthropies specially  mentioned.  At  the  pres- 
[95] 


DENOMINATIONAL  ACTIVITIES 

ent  time  the  minister  is  a  trustee  of  Howard 
University  and  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Gal- 
laudet  College.  One  church  member  serves 
on  the  Board  of  Education;  another  on  the 
Board  of  Management  of  Columbia  Hospital; 
one  is  President  of  the  Instructive  Visiting 
Nurse  Association,  as  well  as  of  the  Juvenile 
Protective  Association,  and  member  of  the 
Board  of  Charities  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 
The  church  is  also  represented  on  the  Board  of 
the  Florence  Crittenton  Mission  and  on  that  of 
Friendship  House. 

By  way  of  social  and  intellectual  develop- 
ment, there  have  been  established  various  clubs 
and  societies,  not  all  of  which  have  survived. 
One  of  the  first  of  these  was  the  Unity  Club, 
organized  in  the  First  Church  but  for  many 
years  dissociated  from  the  Unitarian  Church. 

Among  the  later  records  of  the  First  Church 
are  those  of  the  Washington  Unitarian  Asso- 
ciation, which  would  seem  to  have  been  devoted 
to  the  promotion  of  Unitarianism  at  home 
and  abroad.  It  distributed  Unitarian  liter- 
ature, arranged  lecture  courses  and  sent  dele- 
gates to  the  May  meetings.  It  established, 
and  supported  for  a  while,  schools  for  adult 
colored  people  who  had  just  then  come  out  of 
slavery  into  citizenship.  This  Association  in 
[96] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

1867  became  the  Washington  Christian  Union 
of  whose  career  tliere  is  no  record. 

As  early  as  1840  there  was  a  Washington 
Unitarian  Tract  Association  in  behalf  of  whose 
mission  Rev.  Stephen  G.  Bulfinch  preached  a 
sermon. 

The  Parish  Union  was  organized  in  1877 
to  take  charge  of  social  and  literary  enter- 
tainment. The  Channing  Club  was  a  short- 
lived experiment. 

In  1902  the  men  of  All  Souls  organized  the 
Unitarian  Club  of  Washington.  This  Club, 
which  was  local  in  character,  was  transformed 
in  1920  into  the  Washington  Chapter  of  the 
Unitarian  Laymen's  League  w^hich  is  a  Na- 
tional organization.  The  formation  of  the 
League  Chapter  is  one  of  the  most  important 
events  in  the  history  of  All  Souls  Church. 
The  stimulus  of  association  with  Unitarian  lay- 
men throughout  the  country  has  created 
greater  interest  in  local  and  general  church 
growth.  This  has  led  the  chapter  to  present 
Unitarianism  to  the  Washington  public  in  a 
series  of  evening  meetings  addressed  by  offi- 
cials of  the  League,  by  prominent  ministers 
and  by  men  of  national  repute.  The  Chap- 
ter has  a  membership  of  one  hundred  and 
thirty. 

[97] 


DENOMINATIONAL  ACTIVITIES 

Another  local  branch  of  a  national  organiza- 
tion is  the  Women's  Alliance.  Organized  in 
1892,  it  has  had  for  its  objects  the  quickening 
of  the  religious  life  of  the  church ;  the  bringing 
of  its  women  into  closer  acquaintance,  co-op- 
eration and  fellowship  and  the  promotion  of 
missionary  and  denominational  work.  Its 
degree  of  success  in  the  attainment  of  these  ob- 
jects is  indicated  by  a  membership  of  nearly 
three  hundred ;  its  substantial  support  of  most 
of  the  enterprises  of  the  national  body,  as  well 
as  its  unwearied  devotion  for  several  years  to 
the  building  of  a  new  Church  and  Parish 
House  and  the  furnishing  of  the  latter.  To- 
ward this  it  has  contributed  more  than  $15,000 
and  has  pledged  $10,000  to  the  campaign  fund 
of  19S0.  Through  its  Post  Office  Mission, 
its  lines  have  gone  out  literally  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth,  but  this  is  a  distinction  common  to 
other  Alliances. 

The  Liberal  Religious  Union  is  also  a 
branch  of  a  national  body.  For  many  years 
the  only  expression  of  Unitarianism  in  Wash- 
ington during  the  summer  months  was  through 
this  Union. 

To  the  proper  conduct  of  a  Sunday  School 
the  church  has  given  considerable  attention, 
which  has  resulted  in  the  adoption  of  a  graded 

[98] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

course  of  study  from  kindergarten  up  to  ma- 
ture years. 

The  social  needs  of  younger  members  have 
not  been  overlooked  and  L'Allegro  Club  takes 
care  of  these.  A  Boy  Scout  Troop,  Number 
42,  under  the  Washington  Council,  is  regis- 
tered as  connected  with  All  Souls  Church. 

In  1890  a  group  of  women  belonging  to 
All  Souls  Church  organized  a  Club.  They 
named  it  the  Twentieth  Century  Club,  and 
as  such  it  was  incoi*porated  on  June  5,  1890. 
Its  object,  as  stated  in  the  articles  of  incor- 
poration, was  "to  promote  benevolence,"  which 
was  quite  broad  enough  to  include  that  given 
in  the  preamble  to  its  constitution,  viz. :  "The 
promotion  of  liberal  thought  and  philanthropic 
work  in  its  broad  sense."  For  a  few  years 
such  work  was  done  in  connection  with  the 
Charity  Committee  of  the  church.  Post  Office 
INIission  work  in  Washington  originated  in  this 
Club,  but  upon  the  formation  of  the  Women's 
Alliance  in  1892  it  was  given  over  to  that  so- 
ciety. From  the  year  1896,  the  Twentieth 
Century  Club  has  pursued  its  own  course, 
which  has  been  a  very  successful  one.  Mem- 
bership in  the  Club  was  never  limited  to  Uni- 
tarians. For  that  reason,  and  because  there 
was  no  other  organization  of  the  sort  in  Wash- 
[99] 


DENOMINATIONAL  ACTIVITIES 

ington,  the  Club  has  attracted  many  of  the 
most  intelligent  women  of  the  city,  besides 
those  found  in  All  Souls  Church,  with  the  re- 
sult that  it  has  developed  into  a  well  organized 
body  of  women,  alive  to  the  higher  interests 
of  humanity,  actively  promoting  those  inter- 
ests in  the  Capital  of  the  Nation. 

Until  the  year  1911,  the  Plresident  of  the 
Twentieth  Century  Club  was  a  member  of  All 
Souls  Church,  as  were  most  of  the  other  offi- 
cers. In  the  election  of  that  year  this  prece- 
dent was  not  followed,  nor  has  it  been  since. 
So  great  has  been  the  Club's  attraction,  and 
so  generous  has  been  its  management  in 
admission  to  membership,  that  the  anomalous 
condition  has  arisen — of  a  church  auxihary 
with  a  majority  of  its  members  entirely  unre- 
lated to  that  church.  This  fact  renders  the 
connection  between  the  Twentieth  Century 
Club  and  All  Souls  Church  a  purely  nominal 
one  at  present.  Yet  the  fact  remains  that  but 
for  the  Church  the  Club  would  not  have  ex- 
isted and  therefore  its  history  may  rightfully 
be  related  in  that  of  the  first  hundred  years  of 
the  Unitarian  Church,  and  its  formation  may 
be  proudly  noted  as  an  important  event  in 
that  history.  To  have  been  the  means  of  es- 
tablishing here  a  club  which  in  the  year  1922 
[100] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

has  an  enrollment  of  nearly  four  hundred 
women  of  varied  interests,  yet  all  tending  to 
the  increase  of  the  knowledge  and  culture  of 
individuals,  and  to  the  benefit  of  society,  is  not 
the  least  of  the  ways  in  which  the  Unitarian 
Church  has  contributed  to  the  welfare  of  the 
community.^ 

The  esthetic  sense  of  the  church  has  always 
demanded  good  music  as  essential  in  the  sat- 
isfactory conduct  of  religious  services.  It  is 
said  that  on  the  dedication  day  of  the  First 
Church  the  music  was  a  great  surprise  to  the 
audience  because  of  its  excellence.  It  was 
conducted  by  Philip  Mauro,  who  is  mentioned 
as  one  of  the  members  of  the  First  Church, 
and  the  singers  were  mostly  from  the  congre- 
gation. Of  this  voluntary  choir  the  records 
say: 

"The  choir  has  been  sustained  most  success- 
fully not  only  in  our  opinion  but  also  in  that 
of  numerous  visitors  to  our  metropolis  through 
a  long  course  of  years  by  the  free,  hearty  and 
efficient  services  of  a  few  devoted  persons." 

Judge  Cranch  and  Miss  Seaton  are  es- 
pecially mentioned.     Even  the  critical  John 

lOn  January  5,  1922,  the  Club  in  revising  its  constitution 
voted  to  omit  the  clause  which  stated  its  relation  to  All  Souls 
Unitarian  Church. 

[101] 


DENOMINATIONAL  ACTIVITIES 

Quincy  Adams  had  a  good  word  to  say  for 
the  music  on  the  occasion  of  "the  funeral  of 
John  Law  when  'Pope's  Dying  Christian  to 
his  Soul'  was  given  with  organ  accompaniment 
with  much  effect."  The  standard  then  set  has 
been  well  maintained  and  the  choir  of  All 
Souls  has  always  comprised  some  of  the  best 
musical  talent  of  the  city.  The  voluntary 
choir  was  given  up  with  the  old  church.  Mr. 
Hitz,  a  member  of  the  First  Church,  left  a 
bequest  of  $1000  for  providing  suitable  music. 
This  was  used  toward  paying  for  the  organ 
of  All  Souls. 

The  organ  in  the  new  All  Souls  Church  will 
be  a  gift  in  memory  of  Bernard  Richardson 
Green,  from  Mrs.  Green  and  family.  For 
many  years  an  active  member  of  the  church, 
Mr.  Green  served  it  as  Secretary,  Superinten- 
dent of  Sunday  School,  and  as  Trustee.  He 
was  many  times  Chairman  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees.  Mr.  Green  believed  that  the  stand- 
ard of  All  Souls  should  be  of  the  highest  in 
every  respect  and  to  this  end  he  gave  it  the 
benefit  of  a  practical  mind  and  correct  taste 
whenever  called  to  any  of  its  offices.  He  was  a 
lover  of  fine  music  and  always  wished  that  of 
All  Souls  to  be  the  best  obtainable.  The  or- 
[102] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

gan  will  be  a  fitting  memorial  to  him  from 
those  who  loved  him  best,  and  a  beautiful  gift 
to  the  church  which  was  honored  by  his  faitliful 
care  for  many  years.  IMr.  Green  was  a  civil 
engineer  by  profession.  He  superintended 
the  construction  of  several  of  the  notable 
buildings  of  the  Capital.  Among  these  were 
the  State,  War  and  Navy  Building,  the  Li- 
brary of  Congress,  the  Washington  Public 
Library  and  the  National  Museum.  The  Li- 
brary of  Congress  was  at  first  under  the  direc- 
tion of  General  Thomas  L.  Casey,  with  whom 
Mr.  Green  had  been  associated  in  operations 
by  the  government  in  the  harbors  'of  Portland, 
Maine,  and  Boston,  Massachusetts.  At  the 
time  of  General  Casey's  death,  while  the  Li- 
brary of  Congress  was  building,  ]Mr.  Green 
was  given  entire  charge  of  its  construction  by- 
Act  of  Congress.  His  name  is  closely  con- 
nected with  the  history  of  the  Washington 
JNIonument.  He  was  the  originator  of  the 
method  used  in  strengthening  the  foundations 
of  the  Monument  when  its  erection  was  re- 
sumed after  the  Civil  War.  He  also  designed 
the  marble  pyramidion  which  caps  the  summit 
of  the  great  shaft.  Mr.  Green  was  a  member 
of  All  Souls  from  the  time  of  his  coming  to 
[103] 


DENOMINATIONAL  ACTIVITIES 

Washington  in  the  spring  of  1877  until  his 
death  in  1914.  He  was  a  masterful  man  and 
left  an  indelible  impression  upon  the  minds  of 
those  who  were  associated  with  him. 


[104] 


CHAPTER  X 

HEIRLOOMS 

An  historic  church  needs  some  relics  or  heir- 
looms to  complete  its  interest.  The  Unitar- 
ian Church  is  not  lacking  in  this  respect.  The 
best  known  of  these  is  the  church  bell.  It  was 
cast  by  Joseph  W.  Revere,  son  of  Paul  Revere. 
In  a  letter  to  Charles  Bulfinch,  written  from 
Boston  in  September,  1821,  ]Mr.  Revere  said: 
"A  bell  suitable  for  the  church  in  Washington 
ought  to  weigh  one  thousand  or  twelve  hun- 
dred pounds.  If  you  shall  employ  me  to 
make  a  bell  for  your  church,  I  will  cast  as  good 
an  one  as  possible.  It  shall  be  subject  to  the 
examination  of  such  persons  as  you  shall  see 
fit  to  appoint  here.  If  it  should  not  please 
them,  another  shall  be  cast  without  any  ex- 
pense to  you  whatever.  The  price  will  be  .40 
p.  lb.  and  it  will  be  warranted  with  suitable 
usage,  for  one  year."  This  letter  was  in  reply 
to  one  from  Charles  Bulfinch  dated  August 
17,  1821.  That  was  a  very  early  date  in  the 
[105] 


HEIRLOOMS 

history  of  the  church  and  shows  Mr.  Bulfinch's 
foresight  as  to  the  .details  of  the  building  then 
hardly  on  paper.  The  early  purchase  of  the 
bell  was  probably  brought  about  by  an  acci- 
dent. What  the  architect  had  considered  an 
accessory  to  the  new  building,  needful  for  reli- 
gious purposes,  a  destructive  fire  in  the  neigh- 
borhood revealed  as  a  valuable  public  utility. 
A  report  made  by  George  S.  Bulfinch  and 
George  W.  May  to  the  Committee  on  Man- 
agement on  Sunday,  July  7,  1822 — one 
month  after  the  dedication  of  the  church — 
stated  that  "immediately  after  the  late  destruc- 
tive fire  had  occurred,  they  in  consequence  of 
the  obvious  necessity  of  procuring  a  bell  of 
sufficient  size  and  power  to  alarm  the  citizens 
on  similar  occasions,  voluntarily  undertook  to 
collect  subscriptions  from  their  fellow  citizens 
generally  for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  such 
bell  to  be  hung  in  the  new  Unitarian  Church  at 
the  corner  of  D  and  Sixth  Streets.  They  feel 
much  pleasure  in  being  able  to  announce  to 
the  Committee  that  the  object  has  been  favored 
by  their  fellow  citizens  and  that  it  has  received 
the  liberal  aid  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States.  They  would  observe,  however,  that 
the  aid  last  mentioned  has  been  given  condi- 
tionally, viz. :  'provided  a  bell  of  about  900  lbs. 
[106] 


HYMNS, 

SELECTED  FROM  VJiRlOVS  dUTHOES, 


rOB,  THE  LSn   OF  THE 


UNITARIAN  CHURCH 


WASHINGTON. 


"  Giving  thanks  vmto  the  Father."         Paul. 

»' This  is  life  eternal;  that  they  might  know  tfief. 
THE  ONLY  TRLE  GOD,  and  Jcsus' Christ,  whom  then 
hast  sent."  John  17,  a. 


WASHINGTON: 

Ptinled  by  ]V.  Cooper. 


1821. 


Facsimile  of  title  page  of  Mr.  Little's  Hymn  Book 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

in  weight  should  not  be  procured  previous  to 
the  1st  of  January,  1823,  then  that  the  under- 
signed shall  refund  the  sum  so  advanced,  to 
wit,  $100,' — and  that  the  undersigned  have  be- 
come bound  to  the  government  to  that  effect. 
They  further  report  that  the  amount  of  their 
subscription  list,  including  the  contribution  of 
the  President,  is  $4^19  and  they  now  offer  said 
funds  to  the  Committee  to  be  applied  to  said 
jDurpose  under  the  limitations  and  conditions 
herein  mentioned."  At  that  time  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  was  James  JNIonroe. 
Dr.  Shippen  has  said  of  the  bell: 

"Down  to  1861  it  was  rung  for  public  pur- 
poses. I  am  informed  that  it  tolled  a  requiem 
for  John  Brown  on  the  day  of  his  death 
[Dec.  2,  1859].  Thenceforward  it  was  de- 
nounced by  some  as  an  abolition  bell  and  in  the 
exciting  time  of  1861  its  use  by  the  city  au- 
thorities was  discontinued." 

In  1909  it  was  found  necessary  to  change  the 
action  of  the  hammer,  as  the  side  of  the  bell 
upon  which  it  had  struck  for  ninety  years  had 
grown  dangerously  thin.  Mr.  Revere  had 
warranted  it  for  one  year,  with  suitable  usage. 

The  communion  service  is  also  of  interest 
and  value.     The  flagon,  which  bears  the  name 
of  Revere  as  maker,  is  thus  inscribed: 
[107] 


HEIRLOOMS 

"Presented  by  the  Society  in  Hollis  Street, 
Boston,  to  Charles  Bulfinch  as  a  testimony  of 
their  grateful  acknowledgment  for  the  elegant 
plans  fm-nished  them  for  their  Meeting  House 
and  for  the  unwearied  care  in  the  execution." 

Reverse : 

"1787.  Presented  to  the  First  Unitarian 
Church, 

Washington, 

By 

Charles  and  Hannah  Bulfinch 

June  1830." 

The  plates  of  the  service  were  given  by  ^Irs. 
W.  D.  Stroud,  and  are  made  from  silver  used 
in  the  family  of  her  aunts,  Mrs.  Nancy  M. 
Johnson  and  Miss  Mary  Donaldson,  "as  a 
memorial  of  their  faithful  devotion  to  the  lib- 
eral faith  and  of  their  interest  and  share  in 
promoting  its  growth  in  this  community." 
Upon  the  occasion  of  their  first  use,  Easter 
Sunday,  April  17,  1892,  after  some  commem- 
orative remarks,  Dr.  Shippen  read  letters  re- 
ceived from  former  pastors  from  which  ex- 
tracts are  made. 

Rev.  Joseph  H.  Allen  said: 

"I  am  glad  that  the  memory  of  our  dear, 
kind  old  friends,  Mrs.  Johnson  and  Miss  Don- 
aldson, is  to  be  so  fitly  and  pleasantly  pre- 
[108] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

served.  A  church  is  greatly  privileged  which 
has  such  lives  to  record  among  its  many  and 
rich  memories  of  the  just  made  perfect." 

Of  them  Moncure  D.  Conway  wrote: 

"Since  the  beloved  Teacher,  many  good 
women  have  given  their  bread  to  flesh  and 
blood  for  the  higher  humanity,  but  I  have 
known  none  more  faithful  and  large  hearted  in 
such  service  than  Mrs.  Johnson  and  ^liss  Don- 
aldson." 

Frederick  Douglass  said: 

"None  better  knew  than  they,  that  justice 
and  mercy  to  the  oppressed  is  the  true  cross 
of  Christ  of  the  present  day — and  this  cross 
they  nobly  bore  through  a  long  life.  Let  them 
be  remembered  in  the  Church  of  All  Souls — 
with  Him  who  took  His  place  among  the  lowly 
and  went  about  doing  good." 

Dr.  Shippen  said: 

"Loyal  supporters  of  the  Unitarian  Church 
and  faith  through  life,  their  house  was  the 
hospitable  home  for  all  workers  for  freedom 
and  humanity.  Widely  known,  respected  and 
beloved,  their  table  has  often  been  one  of  high 
spiritual  communion  and  their  names  and 
memory  are  fragrant  and  precious." 

The  individual  cups  were  the  gift  in  1916 
of  the  organist  of  the  church,  Mr.  Lewis  Corn- 
[109] 


HEIRLOOMS 

ing  Atwater,  in  memory  of  his  mother,  Ada 
Corning  Atwater. 

The  pulpit  of  the  First  Church  was  placed 
in  the  chapel  of  All  Souls. 

The  baptismal  font  in  All  Souls  was  given 
by  Miss  Ahce  Adams,  and  the  pulpit  Bible  by 
Mrs.  George  Deering. 

Memorial  windows  were  presented  by  de- 
scendants of  early  families.  Others  placed 
memorial  tablets  on  the  walls.  Mrs.  Emma 
W.  Fuller  of  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  a 
grand-daughter  of  Robert  Little,  presented  to 
the  church  in  1911  a  manuscript  book  of  serv- 
ices and  prayers  written  by  him.  Some  time 
afterward  she  sent  to  the  church  an  account 
book  which  was  owned  and  used  by  Mr.  Little. 
This  book  contains  a  list  of  the  contributors  to 
the  building  fund  of  the  First  Church. 

The  church  also  possesses  through  the  kind- 
ness of  Mr.  James  F.  Hood,  many  years  a 
trustee,  an  original  of  its  own  first  hymn-book, 
herein  before  mentioned;  bearing  the  title: 
"hymns,  Selected  from  Various  Authors, 
for  the  Use  of  the  unitarian  church  in 
WASHINGTON.  Printed  by  W.  Cooper,  1821." 
The  little  volume  is  5I/2  ^  3l/4  inches,  and  con- 
tains one  hundred  and  one  hymns.  It  is 
[110] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

in  excellent  preservation  and  is  of  such  ex- 
cessive rarity  that  it  may  be  unique.  Other 
gifts  from  INIr.  Hood  are  "A  sermon  preached 
before  the  Unitarian  Society  in  the  City  of 
Wasliington  on  Sunday,  July  15,  1821,  by 
Robert  Little";  a  bound  volume  of  eight 
discourses  dehvered  to  the  Society  by  ^Ir. 
Little  on  various  dates  from  October  7,  1821, 
to  July  4,  1824,  two  of  them  spoken  in  the 
hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives;  "A 
sermon  on  Making  Good  Resolutions,  deliv- 
ered in  the  Unitarian  Church,  Washington 
City,  January  1,  1832,  by  the  Pastor"  (Rev. 
Cazneau  Palfrey)  ;  a  small  framed  engraving, 
from  copper,  of  the  "Unitarian  Church,  Wash- 
ington, published  by  Sherwood,  Neely  and 
Jones,  London,  January  1, 1823,"  and  another 
engraving  somewhat  larger,  also  from  copper, 
"View  in  Washington  City,  first  unitarian 
CHURCH,  City  Hall  in  the  distance,"  undated, 
but  printed  about  the  year  1825. 

The  silver  trowel,  suitably  inscribed,  used  by 
President  Taft  at  the  laying  of  the  corner 
stone  of  the  Church  designed  to  be  built  on 
Sixteenth  Street,  was  furnished  for  the  oc- 
casion by  Mr.  Hood  and  has  been  added  to 
the  heirlooms  of  the  Society. 
[Ill] 


CHAPTER  XI 

NATIONAL  ADHERENTS 

The  Unitarian  Church  of  Washington  has 
been  proud  and  rightly  so,  of  the  fact  that 
three  such  celebrated  men  as  John  Quincy 
Adams,  Millard  Fillmore  and  John  C.  Cal- 
houn have  been  her  adherents.  To  find  these 
names  counted  among  those  of  the  regular  at- 
tendants of  an  orthodox  church  of  the  Capital 
is  somewhat  disconcerting  to  the  enthusiastic 
but  not  well-informed  devotee,  while  to  the 
impartial  seeker  for  information  it  is  mislead- 
ing if  stated  without  explanation.  During  the 
presidential  campaign  of  1908,  wherein  the 
successful  candidate  was  a  Unitarian,  the  as- 
sertion was  made  in  a  local  paper  and  prob- 
ably in  others,  that  "while  there  have  been 
Unitarian  presidents  there  is  no  record  of  any 
president's  having  attended  the  Unitarian 
Church,"  and  that  "there  is  no  assertion  that 
the  later  Adams  and  Millard  Fillmore  at- 
[112] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

tended  the  church  after  its  establishment  in 
1821." 

Concerning  JNIr.  Adams,  this  statement 
would  seem  to  be  refuted  by  the  following  pas- 
sage from  the  Diary  of  that  gentleman.  Not- 
ing therein  the  death  of  Rev.  Robert  Little  in 
1827,  Mr.  Adams  said: 

"This  is  a  fact  greatly  to  be  lamented  by  his 
congregation  of  whom  I  was  one.  I  had  con- 
stantly attended  on  his  ministrations  for  the 
last  seven  years." 

Associate  Justice  Joseph  Storj^  writing  of 
a  special  occasion  at  the  First  Church,  refer- 
ring to  President  J.  Q.  Adams,  said: 

"The  President  attended  and  indeed  he  gen- 
erally attends  this  church." 

That  John  Quincy  Adams  was  a  regular  at- 
tendant at  the  church  from  its  beginning  to 
the  end  of  his  life  is  without  doubt.  When 
Mr.  Little  visited  JNIassachusetts  on  his  trip 
soliciting  funds  for  building  the  church,  he 
wrote  home: 

"I  had  a  very  pleasant  interv^iew  with  Presi- 
dent Adams  [Ex-president  John  Adams]  at 
Quincy  last  week  and  he  seems  much  pleased 
with  his  son's  attachment  to  our  Society." 
[113] 


NATIONAL  ADHERENTS 

The  Rev.  Joseph  Henry  Allen,  minister  of 
the  First  Unitarian  Church  at  the  time  of  Mr. 
Adams'  death,  in  a  memorial  sermon  to  him  on 
February  27,  1848,  said: 

"We  fondly  remember  how  but  a  few  weeks 
since  neither  age  nor  feebleness,  nor  storm,  nor 
darkness,  detained  him  from  his  accustomed 
place  on  the  Lord's  day." 

From  his  Diary,  one  learns  that  Mr.  Adams 
often  attended  the  afternoon  service  at  St. 
John's,  and  that  he  also  attended  the  Presby- 
terian Church.  Mr.  Adams  was  essentially 
devout,  but  a  lover  of  argument  as  well,  and 
frequent  churchgoing  may  have  been  neces- 
sary to  him  for  mental  stimulus  as  well  as  for 
spiritual  comfort.  He  was  a  daily  reader  of 
the  Bible  and  confessed  that  he  had  tried  hard 
to  believe  the  doctrine  of  the  trinity,  because 
certain  passages  in  the  New  Testament 
seemed  to  countenance  it.  But  his  caustic 
comments  on  a  sermon  on  that  subject  which 
he  heard  at  St.  John's  in  1839,  indicate  very 
clearly  the  conclusion  at  which  he  had  arrived 
in  regard  to  the  matter.  The  peculiar  tenets 
of  Calvinism  were  no  less  mercilessly  criticised 
by  him  in  writing  of  a  sermon  he  heard  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  December  3, 1837 — both 
[114] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

dates  later  than  his  presidency.  ]Mr.  Adams 
was  also  critical  of  sermons  he  heard  from  Mr. 
Little  and  charged  him  on  one  occasion  with 
not  having  respect  enough  for  his  text.  The 
sermon  was  on  miracles  and  was  delivered 
Xovember  12,  1826.  He  speaks  in  his  auto- 
biography also  of  the  fact  of  ]Mr.  Little's  ob- 
jection to  the  baptism  of  children  as  "one  of 
Mr.  Little's  great  errors."  This  was  apropos 
of  his  having  attended  the  First  Church  when 
JNIr.  JNIott  baptized  several  children. 

Mr.  Adams  resented  unjust  or  flippant  crit- 
icism of  Unitarians,  as  is  amusingly  shown  in 
his  treatment  of  Mr.  Tazewell  of  Virginia. 
That  gentleman,  when  dining  with  Mr. 
Adams,  remarked  that  Tokay  and  Rhenish 
wine  tasted  exactly  alike;  whereupon  his  host 
asserted  that  he  did  not  believe  that  Mr.  Taze- 
well had  ever  tasted  a  drop  of  genuine  Tokay 
wine.  But  INIr.  Adams  was  so  troubled  over 
his  rudeness  to  a  guest,  that  he  sent  Mr.  Taze- 
well a  note  of  apology.  Recording  the  inci- 
dent in  his  journal  he  said: 

"I  was  moved  to  speak  as  I  did  because  Mr. 
Tazewell  had  said  that  he  never  knew  a  Uni- 
tarian who  did  not  believe  in  the  Sea  Serpent." 

When  in  Congress  and  while  Vice-Presi- 
[115] 


NATIONAL  ADHERENTS 

dent,  Millard  Fillniore  retained  and  paid  for 
a  pew  in  the  First  Church.  Upon  his  succes- 
sion to  the  presidency,  and  after  the  settle- 
ment of  his  invalid  wife  and  family  in  the 
White  House,  he  accepted  the  oif  er  made  him 
by  St.  John's  Church  of  a  pew  there,  as  he 
said,  because  of  its  nearness  to  his  home  and 
greater  convenience  for  his  family.  Whether 
this  action  was  the  courtesy  to  fashion  that  is 
sometimes  made  by  those  in  high  places,  or  was 
the  result  of  political  wounds  received  in  the 
house  of  his  friends,  cannot  here  be  stated, 
but  it  probably  was  taken  as  he  said  for  the 
convenience  of  his  family.  Mr.  Fillmore's 
Unitarianism  was  of  too  long  standing  to  be 
impeached  by,  nor  did  his  attendance  at  the 
First  Church  cease  with,  his  acceptance  else- 
where, as  is  indicated  in  a  letter  written  by 
him. 

The  fact  that  John  C.  Calhoun  was  also  an 
attendant  at  St.  John's  might  seem  to  nullify 
the  claim  which  the  Unitarian  Church  makes 
upon  him.  His  biographer,  Mr.  Gaillard 
Hunt,  saj^s: 

"Unitarianism  attracted  him  as  it  did  many 

of  the  public  men  of  his  day;  he  contributed 

to  the  erection  of  the  First  Unitarian  Church 

in  Washington  and  had  a  pew  there.     Not- 

[116] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

withstanding  this,  he  commonly  attended  the 
Episcopal  Church  of  which  his  wife  was  a 
member.  He  was  raised  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church." 

The  Seaton  biographical  sketch  speaks  of 
him  as  "a  warm  friend  and  consistent  adherent 
of  Unitarianism." 

Chief  Justice  John  Marshall  is  sometimes 
included  in  the  number  of  celebrated  men  who 
were  connected  with  the  First  Unitarian 
Church  of  Washington.  He  is  generally 
claimed  as  a  Unitarian  by  the  denomination. 
His  biographer,  Mr.  Albert  J.  Beveridge, 
says:  "The  evidence  as  to  his  own  views  and 
feelings  on  the  subject  of  religion,  although 
scanty,  is  definite.  He  was  a  Unitarian  in 
belief  and  therefore  never  became  a  member  of 
the  Episcopal  Church,  to  which  his  parents, 
wife,  children,  and  all  other  relatives  be- 
longed." Associate  Justice  Story,  who  was  a 
Unitarian  and  an  interested  attendant  of  the 
First  Church,  said  in  his  eulogy  of  the  great 
jurist:  "Among  Christian  sects,  he  person- 
ally attached  himself  to  the  Episcopal  Church. 
It  was  the  religion  of  his  early  education  and 
became  afterwards  that  of  his  choice.  But  he 
was  without  the  slightest  touch  of  bigotry  or 
intolerance." 

[117] 


NATIONAL  ADHERENTS 

The  founders  of  the  First  Unitarian  Church 
were  very  careful  to  make  known  the  fact  that 
the  organization  was  to  be  congregational. 
In  an  account  book  kept  by  Mr.  Little,  the 
list  of  contributors  is  headed  by  the  statement 
that  the  money  is  given  for  "the  establishment 
of  a  church  on  the  principles  of  a  resolution 
taken  from  the  minutes  of  the  Society,  viz.: 
'Sep.  1820.  Resolved  that  it  is  the  intention 
of  this  meeting  that  in  the  church  proposed  to 
be  erected  for  Unitarian  worship  in  this  city 
the  government  and  order  of  the  Society  shall 
be  strictly  congregational,  the  Pastor  and 
officers  chosen  by  the  people  and  all  commit- 
tees of  management  elected  only  for  limited 
periods  and  for  specific  purposes.'  " 

This  list  of  subscribers  carries  first  the  name 
of  Thomas  Law,  who  gave  the  largest  amount 
noted,  viz.:  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars. 
Mr.  Law  was  an  eccentric  Englishman  of  very 
broad  religious  ideas  who,  with  his  brother 
John,  had  become  a  citizen  of  the  new  republic. 
John  Law  was  also  a  generous  contributor. 
His  name  occurs  again  among  the  first  pew 
owners. 

A  name  not  heretofore  mentioned  as  a  con- 
tributor is  that  of  William  H.  Crawford,  fol- 
lowing those  of  John  Quincy  Adams  and  John 
[118] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

C.  Calhoun,  with  which  it  makes  a  trio  distin- 
guished in  national  history.  JNIr.  Crawford  had 
served  as  both  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  and 
of  War  in  the  cabinet  of  President  Madison. 
In  1824  he  was  a  republican  candidate  for  the 
presidency,  as  were  John  Quincy  Adams  and 
Henry  Clay  with  Andrew  Jackson  in  opposi- 
tion. Calhoun  was  candidate  for  the  vice- 
presidency  and  was  elected,  but  the  presiden- 
tial election  was  thrown  into  the  House  of 
Representatives  and  Adams  was  chosen. 

Among  the  contributors  from  abroad  was 
Anios  Lawrence  of  Boston,  whose  widely 
known  philanthropy  did  not  protect  him  from 
theological  attacks  by  the  orthodox.  On  one 
such  occasion  Father  Taylor,  in  reply  to  the 
statement  that  a  Unitarian  could  not  go  to 
heaven,  told  this  story  of  Amos  Lawrence's 
pocketbook.  One  fold  of  the  book  was  in- 
scribed, "What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain 
the  whole  world  and  lose  .his  own  soul?";  an- 
other, "The  gold  is  mine,  said  the  Lord  of 
Hosts,"  and  another,  "He  that  giveth  to  the 
poor,  lendeth  to  the  Lord."  Father  Taylor 
had  asked  the  reason  for  these  inscriptions  and 
Mr.  Lawrence  had  said  that  as  men  grow  old 
they  afe  apt  to  grow  selfish  and  he  wished  to 
be  reminded  of  the  great  principles  of  the  gos- 
[119] 


NATIONAL  ADHERENTS 

pel  by  which  he  ought  to  hold  and  to  use  his 
worldly  goods.  Therefore  he  kept  money  in 
these  folds  for  all  the  good  purposes  that 
Providence  might  suggest. 

The  names  of  two  other  subscribers  suggest 
the  now  and  the  then  of  Unitarianism.  They 
are  Samuel  A.  Eliot  and  William  Ellery 
Channing.  The  latter  was  the  first  great 
apostle  of  Unitarianism;  the  former  was  the 
grandfather  of  the  present  President  of  the 
American  Unitarian  Association  who  bears  the 
same  name. 

In  this  list  are  found  the  names  of  Thomas 
and  George  Bulfinch,  as  well  as  that  of  their 
father,  Charles  Bulfinch.  They  were  young 
men  in  business  when  the  family  left  Boston 
for  Washington.  Their  business  was  that  of 
building  materials,  which  was  quite  in  line  with 
their  father's  profession.  Their  subscriptions 
were  partly  if  not  wholly  paid  in  materials  for 
the  church  building.  George  Bulfinch  inher- 
ited something  of  his  father's  talent,  but 
Thomas  found  business  irksome  and  gave  it  up 
to  become  a  bank  clerk  in  Boston.  He  was 
able  then  to  devote  himself  to  the  things  he 
liked  best  and  made  himself  known  as  the  au- 
thor of  "The  Age  of  Fable."  This  work  has 
been  the  basis  of  several  modern  works  on 
[120] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

mythology.  He  was  appointed  secretary  of 
the  first  meeting  called  to  consider  the  forma- 
tion of  a  Unitarian  society  and  his  signature 
is  on  the  copy  of  the  resolution  offered  by 
Wilham  Eliot  on  the  31st  of  July,  1820. 

Mr.  Little  was  very  methodical  in  his  ac- 
counts and  in  his  reports  to  the  church.  The 
last  entry  in  the  little  book  is  not  without  a 
hint  of  sentiment.     It  is: 

"July  12,  1821.     The  workmen  commenced 
digging  the  foundation  for  the  church. 
August  12th.     All  the  window  frames  in. 
September  12th.     Roof  putting  on. 
October  23rd.     Covered  in. 
June  9,  1822.     Opened  for  worship." 

Mr.  Little  would  seem  to  have  had  the  whole 
affair  well  in  hand  and  if  his  plans  had  met  with 
the  response  which  he  expected  from  the  church 
and  the  public  much  financial  trouble  would 
have  been  avoided.  As  it  was,  only  one-half 
of  the  subscriptions  in  Washington  were  ever 
paid  in,  and  the  sale  of  pews  was  not  so  gen- 
eral as  he  hoped  and  as  was  necessary  finan- 
cially. 


ri2i] 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE   NEW   ALL   SOULS 

By  the  year  1909  Unitarian  Church  history 
began  to  repeat  itself.  The  congregation  was 
aware  that  in  the  near  future  another  removal 
to  a  location  more  secure  from  the  merciless  en- 
croachment of  commercialism  would  be  neces- 
sary together  with  a  building  larger  and  bet- 
ter suited  to  the  needs  of  the  organization. 
At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  year,  Mr.  Ber- 
nard R.  Green,  Chairman  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  said  of  the  development  of  the  church 
and  the  limiitations  of-  its  building:  "This 
it  has  in  turn  outgrown  in  the  short  period 
of  about  thirty  years,  keeping  pace  with  the 
modern  growth  of  the  city  itself  and  now  it 
must  burst  its  bonds  and  be  more  adequately 
housed  for  its  third  period  of  advancing 
life." 

It  was  voted  at  this  time  that  a  committee 
of  ten  associated  with  the  trustees  be  appointed 
to  consider  the  question  of  increased  accom- 
modations for  the  church.  On  June  2nd  this 
[122] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

committee  reported  that  "All  Souls  Church  re- 
quires a  new  edifice  and  accessories  which  make 
a  new  site  necessary."  The  report  was 
adopted.  The  committee  of  ten  was  enlarged 
to  thirty  to  take  in  charge  the  matter  of  a  new 
church,  the  enlarged  committee  to  consist  of 
the  nine  trustees,  the  ten  who  had  served  on  the 
committee  which  had  just  reported  and  eleven 
additional  members. 

As  in  1877,  so  in  1909,  no  effective  action 
could  be  taken  without  the  aid  and  consent  of 
the  American  Unitarian  Association.  Con- 
sultation with  that  body  resulted  in  an  arrange- 
ment whereby  the  property  at  Fourteenth  and 
L  Streets  might  be  sold  and  a  site  elsewhere 
selected  and  bought.  Committees  were  ap- 
pointed for  these  purposes  and  for  the  collec- 
tion of  necessary  funds.  After  consideration 
of  several  sites,  and  the  selection  of  one,  the 
title  of  which  proved  faulty  causing  its  rejec- 
tion, the  committee  of  Thirty  secured  an  op- 
tion of  lots  74  to  85  in  square  192  on  Sixteenth 
Street  near  R.  The  American  Unitarian  As- 
sociation approved  the  site  and  the  church 
authorized  its  purchase  together  with  as  much 
of  lot  73  as  might  be  necessary.  This  land  was 
afterward  referred  to  as  lot  104  in  square  192. 
There  on  February  13,  1913 — ominous  fig- 
[123] 


THE  NEW  ALL  SOULS 

ures — the  cornerstone  taken  from  All  Souls 
was  relaid  by  Ptresident  William  Howard 
Taft,  as  the  beginning  of  a  new  All  Souls 
Church  and  Edward  Everett  Hale  Parish 
House.  Funds  in  cash  and  subscriptions  to 
the  amount  of  $90,000  were  raised.  A  satis- 
factory plan  for  the  edifice  was  selected  from  a 
competition.  The  lot  was  paid  for,  leaving  a 
small  cash  balance,  but  nothing  more  was  pos- 
sible until  the  sale  of  the  property  at  Four- 
teenth and  L  Streets.  Three  years  of  discus- 
sion and  effort  had  passed  before  this  partial 
Success  was  achieved.  They  had  been  years  of 
special  interest  otherwise  to  the  people  of  All 
Souls,  as  they  were  included  in  the  presidency 
of  Mr.  Taft,  whose  presence  at  the  church  serv- 
ices had  been  very  regular.  The  fact  of  his 
Unitarianism  and  his  attendance  at  All  Souls 
had  been  a  source  of  publicity  for  the  church, 
not  always  exact  in  statement,  but  al- 
ways gratifying  in  the  opportunity  given 
for  making  better  known  to  many  per- 
sons the  faith  held  in  common  with  this  dis- 
tinguished citizen. 

Of  the  last  day  of  President  Taft's  atten- 
dance at  the  church,  the  minister,  the  Rev.  U. 
G.  B.  Pierce,  said  in  his  annual  report  of  1913: 
"And  Sunday,  March  2nd.     On  that  day  we 
[124] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

bade  sincere  and  affectionate  good-bye  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States  who  for  four 
years  had  worshipped  with  us.  The  service 
was  simple  and  severe — that  is  our  way.  An 
address  by  the  President  of  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees, the  Honorable  Duncan  U.  Fletcher;  the 
presentation  of  the  portrait  of  INIr.  Taft  by 
Prof.  A.  W.  Spanhoofd  on  behalf  of  the  Uni- 
tarian Club ;  the  touching  farewell  of  the  Presi- 
dent himself;  the  singing  of  Blest  be  the  Tie 
That  Binds;  the  reception  by  the  President 
to  the  members  of  All  Souls;  the  last  good-bye 
and  salute  by  the  Boy  Scouts,  our  boys,  as  the 
White  House  automobile  sped  away ;  it  is  easy 
to  recite  all  this  but  it  is  not  easy  to  say  what 
it  meant  to  us  and  how  we  remember  the  occa- 
sion as  one  about  which  to  tell  our  children. 
And  now  we  return  to  normal  church  life. 
We  are  thankful  that  during  all  these  years 
there  was  no  accident  or  disturbance;  and  we 
trust  that  to  our  honored  fellow-worshippers, 
as  to  us,  the  memory  of  those  years  may  be 
without  spot  or  blemish." 

Within  a  year  and  a  half  thereafter,  the 
World  War  made  life  abnormal  for  all  man- 
kind. Upon  the  entrance  into  the  war  by  our 
own  government  all  the  interest,  energy  and 
money  of  the  congregation  of  All  Souls  were 
[125] 


THE  NEW  ALL  SOULS 

diverted  into  patriotic  channels  and  church 
building  was  necessarily  postponed. 

It  happened  in  the  course  of  time  that. the 
desirability  of  the  site  on  Sixteenth  Street  was 
greatly  lessened  by  the  erection  next  it  of  a 
large  apartment  house.  When  an  offer  of 
$105,000  cash  was  made  for  the  lots  by  the 
company  building  there,  it  was  deemed  best  to 
accept  it  and  buy  elsewhere,  always  with  the 
ratification  of  the  American  Unitarian  Asso- 
ciation. The  corner  stone,  which  was  fast  be- 
coming a  veritable  Ark  of  the  Covenant  to  the 
Unitarian  people,  was  removed  from  Sixteenth 
Street  and  returned  to  Fourteenth  and  L 
Streets  to  await  developments,  the  first  of 
which  was  the  recommendation  in  January, 
1920,  by  the  Board  of  Trustees,  that  a  site  for 
the  church  be  bought  at  Sixteenth  and  Har- 
vard Streets,  consisting  of  lots  20  to  22  and 
807  to  818  in  square  2577.  Those  members  of 
the  church  present  at  the  special  meeting  of 
January  2,  1920,  voted  that  this  site  be  pur- 
chased at  a  price  not  exceeding  $90,000.  The 
vote  was  sixty  in  the  affirmative  to  eight  in  the 
negative.  At  the  same  meeting  the  Trustees 
announced  a  proposal  lately  made  to  them  by 
the  Buick  Motor  Company  that  that  company 
would  rent  the  property  at  Fourteenth  and  L 
[126] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

Streets  for  ten  years  at  an  annual  rental  of 
$30,000,  provided  the  church  would  erect 
thereon  a  building  of  design  approved  by  the 
company.  It  was  moved  that  this  be  done. 
The  motion  gave  rise  to  serious  discussion. 
The  desirability  of  creating  from  this  property 
a  source  of  future  revenue  for  the  church  was 
set  forth,  while  in  opposition  was  shown  the 
great  risk  of  building  in  such  uncertain  and 
abnormal  times.  The  motion  was  carried  by 
a  vote  of  32  to  27.  A  committee  of  three  to  be 
selected  from  the  Board  of  Trustees  and  mem- 
bership at  large  with  the  Chairman  of  the 
Board,  INIr.  George  A.  Bicker,  as  advisory 
member  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Chm'ch,  JNIr. 
Elmer  Stewart,  as  secretary,  to  consummate 
the  proposition,  was  also  authorized. 

Thus  in  a  few  moments  were  the  affairs  of 
All  Souls  changed  from  a  state  of  stagnation 
to  one  of  liveliest  activity.  The  church  was  to 
be  abandoned  and  torn  down.  A  temporary 
place  of  worship  was  to  be  found.  A  large 
business  building  was  to  be  put  up  at  once,  and 
a  church  as  soon  as  possible.  Necessary  ar- 
rangements between  tlie  three  parties  con- 
cerned, viz.:  the  Church,  the  Association  and 
the  Motor  Company,  consumed  several  weeks, 
but  by  the  middle  of  June,  1920,  All  Souls 
[127] 


THE  NEW  ALL  SOULS 

Church  had  become  a  memory  only  for  those 
who  had  loved  it  for  years,  and  in  its  place 
foundations  were  laid  for  an  industrial  build- 
ing six  stories  in  height. 

The  first  step  toward  the  building  of  a  new 
church  was  the  selection  of  an  architect.  After 
consultation  with  the  American  Unitarian 
Association,  it  was  decided  that  the  rules  of 
the  American  Institute  of  Architects  should 
be  followed  in  this  selection.  The  competition 
was  limited  to  six  firms  or  individuals.  Prof. 
Warren  P.  Laird,  Head  of  the  Department 
of  Architecture  of  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, acted  as  architectural  adviser  for  the 
church.  It  was  his  duty  to  prepare  the  pro- 
gram for  the  competition.  This  he  did  from 
data  furnished  by  the  Trustees  and  the  Com- 
mittee, setting  forth  the  needs,  the  wishes  and 
the  ideals  of  the  church  in  regard  to  its  pros- 
pective home.  The  plan  was  to  include  a  Par- 
ish House.  One  stipulation  was  "That  the  de- 
sign typify  Unitarian  ideas  and  ideals  and  at 
the  same  time  harmonize  with  the  architecture 
of  Washington  and  fit  into  the  surroundings 
of  the  chosen  site."  The  completed  drawings 
were  to  be  judged  by  a  jury  elected  by  the 
competing  architects.  The  jury  elected  was 
Cass  Gilbert,  Henry  Bacon  and  John  Wyn- 
[128] 


All  Souls  Church  and  Edward  Everett  Hale  Memorial  Parish  House,  1922. 
(Architects'  drawing) 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

koop,  all  of  New  York,  three  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished architects  of  the  country. 

By  decision  of  the  jury,  the  architect  whose 
plans  should  best  meet  the  given  conditions 
would  become  automatically  as  it  were  the  ar- 
chitect of  the  new  Unitarian  Church  of  Wash- 
ington. The  jury  agreed  that  design  No.  5 
best  met  the  conditions  stated.  This  proved  to 
be  that  submitted  by  the  firm  of  Coolidge  and 
Shattuck,  of  Boston.  This  design,  with  some 
modifications,  is  the  plan  from  which  the  new 
All  Souls  Church  and  Parish  House  is  being 
built. 

In  an  article  published  in  the  Christian  Reg- 
ister of  September  29,  1921,  Mr.  George  A. 
Ricker,  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Trustees, 
said: 

"The  practical  details  of  the  plan  have  many 
features  of  interest.  The  approach  to  the 
church  proper  is  by  a  monumental  terrace  up 
broad  flights  of  steps  and  through  a  portico 
with  tall  Corinthian  columns  surmounted  by  a 
pediment,  above  which  rises  the  graceful  spire. 
The  auditorium  is  in  the  typical  Colonial  style 
with  a  barrel-vaulted  ceiling  supported  by  col- 
umns. The  organ  and  choir  gallery  are  over 
the  entrance  vestibule.  There  are  also  side 
galleries.  The  maximum  seating  capacity 
will  be  nine  hundred  and  thirty-four,  of  which 
[129] 


THE  NEW  ALL  SOULS 

number  six  hundred  and  sixty-six  will  be  on 
the  floor  and  two  hundred  and  sixty-eight  in 
the  galleries. 

"Flanking  and  connecting  with  the  far  end 
of  the  church  are  wing  buildings  of  two  stories 
and  basements  housing  the  social  and  educa- 
tional facilities;  the  right  wing  containing  an 
assembly-room,  with  dining-room  in  the  base- 
ment; the  left  wing,  class-rooms  and  club- 
rooms  for  men  and  women,  with  the  boiler  and 
storage-rooms  in  the  basement.  These  two 
wings  extend  a  considerable  distance  to  the 
street  back  of  the  church  proper,  and  are 
united  by  a  narrow  one-story  connecting  build- 
ing on  the  street  side,  enclosing  an  open  court 
which  will  have  a  cloister  and  garden.  This 
cloister  and  its  garden,  corresponding  to  the 
cloister  garth  of  the  old  churches,  will  be  a 
most  charming  place  for  rest  as  well  as  a 
centre  of  interest  for  social  functions  whether 
in  the  afternoon  or  evening.  The  basement  of 
the  main  building  is  planned  to  house  the  rec- 
reational activities  of  the  institution,  the  gym- 
nasium and  swimming-pool.  A  decorative 
fence  around  the  group  will  enclose  other 
spaces  on  either  side  of  the  church  proper 
which  may  be  laid  out  with  lawns  and  plant- 
ing. The  group  of  buildings  will  be  con- 
structed in  the  Colonial  materials,  dark  red 
brick  and  light  stone." 

On  Thursday,  September  8,  1921,  ground 
[130] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

was  broken  for  this  building  and  a  little  later 
the  work  of  laying  its  foundation  was  begun. 
The  last  service  held  in  All  Souls  Church  at 
Fourteenth  and  L  Streets  was  on  March  14, 
1920.  The  text  of  the  sermon  delivered  by 
Dr.  Pierce  was  the  same  as  that  chosen  by  Dr. 
MacCauley  when  his  congregation  bade  fare- 
well to  the  First  Church:  Genesis  xii,  7-8. 
He  said: 

"Built  into  the  very  structure  of  this  church, 
pervading  its  history,  animating  our  very 
spirits,  urging  on  our  spiritual  life,  the  great 
stream  of  hfe  of  our  fathers  still  persists;  and 
it  is  not  for  our  righteousness  or  for  any  sense 
of  power  in  ourselves,  primarily,  that  we  are 
enabled  to  take  up  in  our  day  and  in  our  gen- 
eration the  work  that  they  did  so  nobly  in 
theirs.  And  in  a  peculiar  sense  we  are  chil- 
dren of  our  spiritual  parents. 

"What  we  want  is  what  our  fathers  wanted 
— a  place  of  worship  adequate,  not  simply  to 
some  of  our  needs,  but  adequate  for  all  our 
growing  needs  whereby  we  may  serve  our  com- 
munity and  our  generation.  That  is  the  ideal 
as  I  understand  it — the  only  ideal  that  is  worth 
while.  We  would  like  such  a  place  of  worship, 
with  its  parish  house,  that  those  who  come  to 
Washington  and  honor  us  by  worshipping 
with  us  shall  not  necessarily  say  it  was  the  big- 
gest tiling  that  ever  was,  the  most  gorgeous,  or 
the  most  costly,  but  that  they  may  feel  that 
[131] 


THE  NEW  ALL  SOULS 

here  is  a  sanctuary  which,  with  its  emphasis  on 
the  human  end  of  rehgion,  typifies  the  simple, 
the  straightforward,  the  practical  gospel  of  the 
Unitarian  Church." 

After  this  sermon,  two  communications  were 
read  by  the  Minister,  one  expressing  the  wish, 
if  agreeable  to  the  church  and  congregation, 
"to  present  to  it  a  communion  table  as  one  more 
link  between  the  old  church  and  the  new,  in 
memoiy  of  all  those  whose  lives  have  been  built 
into  this  church  and  into  whose  labors  we  have 
entered."  The  other  said:  "Wlien  the  new 
church  building  is  erected  on  the  site  recently 
purchased  at  Sixteenth  and  Harvard  Streets, 
I  desire  the  privilege  of  donating  a  full  and 
complete  set  of  chimes  for  the  belfry  as  a  mem- 
orial to  my  father."  The  names  of  the 
donors  were  withheld.  These  offers  were  ac- 
cepted by  a  rising  vote  of  the  congregation. 
It  was  also  voted,  upon  motion  of  the  Minis- 
ter, that  "the  affectionate  salutations  of  this 
church  be  sent  to  Dr.  MacCauley,"  sole  sur- 
viving Minister  of  the  old  church,  at  Tokyo, 
Japan. 

The  sermon  was  followed  by  a  particularly 
solemn    and    impressive    communion    service, 
with  which  ended  the  life  of  the  church  in  its 
home  of  forty-two  years. 
[132] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

On  ^larch  21,  1920,  the  congregation  met  in 
the  Knickerbocker  Theater,  at  Eighteenth 
Street  and  Columbia  Road,  which  had  been 
generously  offered  it  as  a  meeting  place  in- 
definitely by  the  managers  of  the  theater.  ^ 
An  apartment  in  the  immediate  vicinity  was 
secured  by  the  trustees  for  use  of  the  various 
organizations  of  the  church  and,  thus  accom- 
modated, the  members  have  patiently,  cheer- 
fully and  hopefully  waited  for  the  dawn  of  bet- 
ter times  when  building  operations  might  be 
begun.  That  nothing  might  be  lacking  on 
their  part,  they  contributed  $100,000  to  the 
Unitarian  Campaign  Fund  of  1920. 

The  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  or- 
ganization of  the  Unitarian  Church  of  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  was  celebrated  on  Sunday, 
November  G,  1921.  This  anticipated  the  cen- 
tenary by  five  days.  Sunday  was  chosen, 
so  that  all  interested  might  be  present.  More- 
over, the  11th  of  November,  the  exact  centen- 

1  On  the  night  of  Saturday,  January  28,  1922,  the  roof  of 
the  Knickerbocker  Theater  collapsed,  causing  death  or  injury 
to  many  persons.  Within  a  few  days  thereafter  the  Manager 
of  B.  F.  Keith's  Theater,  Mr.  Roland  S.  Bobbins,  extended  to 
the  congregation  of  All  Souls  an  invitation  to  hold  its  Sun- 
day services  there  until  the  new  church  should  be  completed. 
This  invitation  was  accepted  and  the  first  service  there  was 
held  on  February  5,  1922. 

[133] 


THE  NEW  ALL  SOULS 

nial,  was  to  be  the  day  of  the  ceremonies  at- 
tending the  burial  of  the  Unknown  Soldier  at 
Arlington.  The  service  held  at  the  theater 
was  largely  attended.  Addresses  were  made 
by  the  Minister,  the  Rev  U.  G.  B.  Pierce;  by 
the  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  Mr. 
George  A.  Ricker;  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  A. 
Eliot,  President  of  the  American  Unitarian 
Association,  and  by  Chief  Justice  William 
Howard  Taft,  President  of  the  Unitarian  Con- 
ference. 


[134] 


CHAPTER  XIII 

MINISTERS   OF  ALL   SOULS   CHURCH 

The  ministers  of  All  Souls  Church  have 
been  but  four  in  number:  Clay  MacCauley, 
Rush  R.  Shippen,  E.  Bradford  Leavitt  and 
Ulysses  G.  B.  Pierce. 

In  February,  1877,  the  Rev.  Clay  Mac- 
Cauley was  asked  to  serve  temporarily  as  pas- 
tor for  the  First  Church,  and  in  July  of  that 
year  was  elected  to  the  position  permanently. 
His  service  dated  from  September,  1877,  to 
September,  1880.  The  three  years  included 
between  these  dates  were  important  ones  in 
the  history  of  the  church.  Mr.  JNIacCauley 
Jias  said  that  he  found  in  his  "new  field  a  de- 
voted but  small  band  of  regular  attendants  at 
the  church.  In  the  community,  however,  a 
considerable  number  of  persons,  who  had  once 
been  either  active  members  of  the  Society  or 
its  friends,  were  then  holding  themselves 
aloof."  It  seemed  to  Dr.  MacCauley  that  a 
reorganization  of  the  church  with  a  new  sys- 
[135] 


MINISTERS  OF  ALL  SOULS 

tematization  of  its  departments  might  help  in 
the  reconciliation  of  differences  and  in  infus- 
ing new  life.  This  with  the  sanction  of  the 
trustees  he  proceeded  to  effect. 

He  wrote  a  new  constitution,  associating 
with  it  a  Bond  of  Union  for  church  member- 
ship, and  made  a  new  grouping  of  the  various 
organizations  within  the  church,  "And  that  the 
mission  of  the  Church  might  be  strongly  and 
accurately  signalized"  he  proposed  for  it  the 
name  of  All  Souls  Church. 

It  was  fortunate  that  such  a  leader  answered 
the  call  of  the  church  at  that  time.  He 
brought  to  its  service  a  well-trained  mind.  He 
had  torn  away  the  husks  of  orthodox  dogma 
from  the  kernel  of  truth  which  they  conceal, 
and  had  resolved  thereafter  to  interpret  that 
truth  after  the  liberal  manner.  He  was  a 
graduate  of  Princeton,  where  his  course  had 
been  interrupted  by  a  year  of  service  in  the 
Civil  War  when  he  suffered  wounds  and  im- 
prisonment. He  had  spent  three  years  of 
study  in  Germany.  He  was  born  in  Cham- 
bersburg,  Pennsylvania,  and  there  when  a  boy 
he  heard  Frederick  Douglass  speak,  spell- 
bound by  that  masterful  orator.  Years  after- 
ward Frederick  Douglass,  in  the  audience  of 
All  Souls,  often  listened  to  Dr.  MacCauley. 
[136] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

The  reorganization  of  the  church  proved  its 
efficiency  in  enlarged  congregations  and  in- 
creased interest.  In  May,  1880,  Dr.  INIac- 
Cauley  resigned  his  position  and  most  of  his 
life  since  then  has  been  spent  in  Japan,  where 
he  has  served  in  the  Unitarian  INIission  in  To- 
kyo. Of  him  and  his  work  in  Japan,  the 
Secretary  of  the  American  Unitarian  Asso- 
ciation, the  Rev.  Louis  C.  Cornish,  has  said: 

"By  his  knowledge  of  Japanese,  by  his 
Japanese  text-books,  long  and  widely  used,  by 
his  position  as  a  broad-minded  and  public- 
spirited  servant  of  the  two  countries.  Dr.  Mac- 
Cauley  has  slowly  gained  in  Japan  a  position 
which  is  unique  both  for  the  affection  in  which 
he  is  held  and  the  influence  he  has  been  able 
to  exert.  In  a  recent  letter  from  Ambassa- 
dor Morris,  the  representative  of  the  United 
States  in  Japan,  to  the  Governor  of  the  Phil- 
ippines, commenting  upon  Dr.  INIacCauley's 
approaching  visit  to  the  Islands,  he  described 
Dr.  MacCauley  as  follows: — 

"  'Dr.  ^lacCauley,  of  Tokyo,  has  been  for 
many  years  one  of  the  most  loyal  and  effec- 
tive Americans  in  Japan.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  American  Unitarian  Association,  and  his 
services  have  been  chiefly  engaged  in  the 
spread  of  liberal  Christianity  in  Japan;  but  his 
influence  has  gone  far  beyond  any  limit  of 
church  or  creed,  and  today  he  is  our  most  dis- 
[137] 


MINISTERS  OF  ALL  SOULS 

tinguished  as  well  as  most  liberal  fellow-coun- 
tryman here/  " 

Dr.  JNIacCauley  has  lately  returned  to 
America  after  resigning  his  position  in  Tokyo. 

The  Rev.  Rush  R.  Shippen  succeeded  Dr. 
MacCauley  as  minister  of  All  Souls.  He  had 
been  prominent  in  the  affairs  of  the  denomin- 
ation for  many  years,  having  served  as  Secre- 
tary of  the  American  Unitarian  Association. 
In  that  position  he  had  been  in  close  touch  with 
the  rejuvenation  and  rehabilitation  of  the 
Washington  church.  He  had  officiated  at  the 
dedication  of  All  Souls  in  1878  and  must  have 
been  welcomed  as  an  old  friend  when  he  came 
as  minister  in  1881.  With  his  pastorate  the 
church  entered  upon  a  more  active  life  than 
had  yet  been  hers. 

During  these  years,  by  arrangement  between 
the  church  and  the  American  Unitarian  As- 
sociation, prominent  Unitarian  ministers  were 
heard  here  in  the  winter  months. 

Dr.  Shippen  was  a  man  of  fine  presence, 
and,  when  called  upon  for  public  speaking 
outside  the  church,  always  rose  to  the  emer- 
gency and  gave  distinction  to  the  day.  Little 
children  loved  him.  He  is  vividly  and  kindly 
remembered  by  his  Washington  parishioners 
[138] 


The  Reverend  Ulysses  G.  B.  Pierce,  Minister  since  1901. 
Underwood  &  Underwood,  Washington 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

and  as  a  citizen  of  the  District  of  Columbia 
was  known  and  appreciated.  Dr.  Shippen 
resigned  the  pastorate  in  1895. 

After  a  pastorless  interval  of  fourteen 
months,  during  which  the  pulpit  was  supplied 
by  ministers  from  different  parts  of  the  coun- 
try, the  church  called  the  Rev.  E.  Bradford 
Leavitt,  who  was  installed  January  13,  1897. 
In  1900  ]Mr.  Leavitt  resigned  his  position  and 
went  to  San  Francisco,  California,  as  pastor 
of  the  First  Unitarian  Church  of  that  city. 
His  stay  in  Washington,  though  short,  left  the 
impression  of  a  man  of  earnest  convictions 
which  he  expressed  ably. 

The  requirements  necessary  for  a  minister 
suitable  for  the  Washington  church  set  forth 
by  Associate  Justice  Story  in  his  letter  of  the 
early  days  may  never  be  completely  met,  but 
they  found  a  very  satisfactory  fulfillment  in 
1901,  when  the  Rev.  Ulysses  G.  B.  Pierce 
entered  its  pulpit.  He  met  a  congregation 
ready  to  help  in  making  the  church  what  its 
founders  so  earnestly  wished  it  might  be,  a 
national  center  from  which  should  radiate  the 
truth,  the  goodness  and  the  beauty  of  a  liberal 
faith.  As  a  guide  to  this  end  he  has  not  hesi- 
tated, nor  has  he  cliosen  a  circuitous  route. 
Preaching  the  plain  truth,  he  has  avoided  ex- 
[139] 


MINISTERS  OF  ALL  SOULS 

travagance  of  statement  or  of  style.  Sensa- 
tionalism has  not  weakened  the  force  of  its 
presentation,  and  asking  the  bread  of  life  the 
people  have  not  been  given  the  stone  of  eco- 
nomic, socialistic  or  political  theory.  The 
need  of  a  pure  and  an  applied  Christianity 
has  been  made  plain  to  them  and  their  respon- 
sibility as  individuals,  and  as  a  church,  in  help- 
ing to  supply  this  need.  The  function  of  re- 
ligion in  every  possible  phase  of  human  life 
has  been  preached  with  persistency,  in  a  man- 
ner vigorous  and  impressive  enough  to  gratify 
a  modern  audience,  and  yet  not  lacking  in  the 
"engaging  suavity"  which  Associate  Justice 
Story  thought  desirable. 

The  pulpit  of  All  Souls  during  the  World 
War  was  a  source  of  loyalty,  of  comfort,  of 
strength  and  faith  that  right  would  prevail, 
while  the  daily  life  of  its  minister  was  a  suc- 
cession of  deeds,  private  and  public,  helping  to- 
ward the, great  consummation.  Dr.  Pierce  is 
another  of  the  Unitarian  ministers  whom 
the  legislative  department  of  the  government 
has  been  pleased  to  call  into  its  service.  He 
served  the  United  States  Senate  as  Chaplain 
from  1909  to  1913.  In  the  history  of  the 
Unitarian  Church  of  Washington,  the  names 
of  William  Henry  Channing  and  Ulysses  G. 
[140] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

B.  Pierce  will  be  associated  as  preachers  and  as 
leaders  in  two  great  national  epochs.  Of  New 
England  birth,  Dr.  Pierce's  ministry  has  led 
him  to  the  Middle  West  and  the  Pacific  Coast. 
He  has  been  located  at  Decorah,  Iowa,  and 
Pomona,  California.  When  called  to  Wash- 
ington, he  was  in  charge  of  the  church  at 
Ithaca,  New  York. 

The  ministry  of  Dr.  Pierce  in  Washington 
is  the  longest  in  the  annals  of  the  parish.  It 
embraces  a  little  more  than  one-fifth  of  the 
century  ending  November  11,  1921 — twenty 
years  and  more  of  hearty  co-operation  between 
minister  and  people  in  the  work  begun  by  the 
little  band  of  1821.  The  ideal  of  the  early 
days  was  not  lost  during  the  growth  of  the 
struggling  First  Church  into  the  well-organ- 
ized All  Souls  and  in  its  preservation  there 
has  developed  a  sense  of  spiritual  kinship 
among  its  followers. 

An  examination  of  this  period  reveals  the 
gradual  disappearance  from  church  meetings 
and  councils  of  many  who  were  prominent 
there  at  its  beginning,  but  it  also  shows,  in 
many  instances,  their  places  held  by  sons  and 
daughters  of  the  same  willingness  and  devo- 
tion. Together  with  these  are  increasing 
numbers,  drawn  by  the  minister's  presentation 
[141] 


MINISTERS  OF  ALL  SOULS 

of  a  gospel  so  attractive  and  convincing  as  to 
enlist  their  enthusiastic  aid  in  its  wider  dis- 
semination. Examination  also  shows  the  de- 
votion, sedulously  cultivated  in  the  interests  of 
its  faith,  to  have  been  equally  strong  for  the 
preservation  of  the  state  as  expressed  in  loy- 
alty of  word  and  thought  and  deed  in  the  nu- 
merous ways  which  offered  during  the  World 
War.  Numbers  of  its  youth  answered  the 
call  to  arms,  and  three  of  these  did  not  return ; 
Jesse  M.  Robinson,  Fred  E.  Smith  and 
Earnest  E.  Weibel.  The  contributions  of 
money  by  the  congregation  to  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  and  to  the  Red 
Cross  were  not  inconsiderable.  The  women 
were  active  in  the  local  service  of  the  latter 
organization.  It  was  the  happy  thought  of 
Miss  Helen  Nicolay  of  All  Souls  that  the  Uni- 
tarian women  of  the  Middle  States  should 
raise  sufficient  funds  for  the  restoration  of  the 
village  of  Fleville  in  France.  Under  her  su- 
pervision, this  was  successfully  accomplished. 
All  Souls  was  fortunate  in  having  in  her  mem- 
bership scientific  men  whose  specialties  were 
such  as  to  prove  invaluable  to  the  government 
when  offered  for  its  service  in  its  time  of  need. 
An  incident  of  the  World  War  in  which  All 
Souls  was  entitled  to  take  pride  was  the  fa- 
[142] 


A  CENTURY  OF  UNITARIANISM 

mous  Tep\y  of  Capt.  Joseph  Taussig  to  Ad- 
miral Bayly  of  the  British  Navy.  Capt. 
Taussig  commanded  the  first  division  of  the 
fleet  of  torpedo-boat  destroyers  sent  by  the 
United  States  to  the  rehef  of  England  and 
France.  Immediately  after  the  fleet's  arrival 
at  Queenstown,  Taussig  called  upon  the  Ad- 
miral in  command  there,  who  asked  "When 
will  you  be  ready  to  go  to  sea?"  Capt. 
Taussig  answered,  "We  are  ready  now,  sir." 
All  Souls  knew  Taussig  as  one  of  her  own  in 
Sunday  School  and  congregation  during  boy- 
hood and  early  manhood. 

Several  years  of  this  period  of  the  church's 
history  were  enriched  by  the  companionship  of 
Edward  Everett  Hale,  who,  after  the  time  of 
storm  and  stress  which  he  had  foreseen  in  his 
early  days,  found  in  Washington  a  resting 
place  before  taking  leave  of  earthly  things. 
His  memory  will  be  perpetuated  in  the  Parish 
House  which  will  bear  his  name. 

That  this  pastorate  may  reach  well  into  the 
church's  second  century  is  the  hope  of  all  who 
have  thus  far  shared  its  duties,  its  pleasures 
and  its  anxieties. 

At  present,  and  may  it  long  be  so.  All  Souls 
Unitarian  Church  stands  four-square  to  the 
world  with  "all  the  windows  of  her  soul  wide- 
[143] 


MINISTERS  OF  ALL  SOULS 

open  to  the  day";  which  is  to  say  that  she  is 
ever  ready  to  lend  a  hand  in  the  world's  work, 
and  that  she  is  on  the  watch  for  new  truth, 
whose  coming  she  will  welcome  with  hospital- 
ity. Conscious  of  the  changing  order  in  the 
thoughts  of  men,  she  will  strive  more  earnestly 
to  justify  her  existence  by  "translating  into 
life"  the  two  commandments  which  may  be 
called  the  canons  of  her  faith,  viz.:  "Thou 
shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart, 
and  with  all  thy  soul  and  with  all  thy  mind 
and  with  all  thy  strength";  and  the  no  less 
important  one:  "Thou  shalt  love  thy  neigh- 
bor as  thyself,"  for  she  believes  that  "upon 
these  hang  all  the  law  and  the  prophets." 


[144] 


APPENDIX 


Original  JVIembers  of 

The  First  Unitarian  Church 

OF  Washington,  D.  C. 


William  Winston  Seaton 
Joseph  Gales,  Sr. 
Joseph  Gales,  Jr. 
John  Quincy  Adams 
John  C.  Calhoun 
William  G.  Eliot 
Charles   Bulfinch 
John  F.  Webb 
C.  S.  Fowler 
William   Cranch 
Moses  Poor 
N.  P.  Poor 
G.  F.  May 

P. 


Noah  Fletcher 
Richard  Wallach 
Robert  Little 
Seth  Hyatt 
C.  Andrews 
C.  Robinson 
Pishey  Thompson 
Thos.  Bates 
A.  B.  Waller 
Thos.  C.  Wright 
M.  Claxton 
S.  Franklin 
Wm.  Cooper 
Mauro 


[145] 


APPENDIX 

Ministers  of  the  Unitarian  Church. 
Washington^  D.  C. 


Robert   Little 

1821 

- 

1827 

Andrew    Bigelow 

1828 

- 

1829 

Cazneau     Palfrey- 

1830 

- 

1836 

Frederic  A.  Farley 

1836 

7 

months 

Stephen  G.  Bulfinch 

1838 

- 

1844 

Edward  Everett  Hale 

Oct., 

1844 

- 

March, 

1845 

Orville  Dewey 

Nov., 

1846 

- 

April, 

1847 

Samuel  Longfellow 

April, 

1847 

Joseph  Henry  Allen 

1847 

- 

1850 

Orville    Dewey 

Dec, 

1851 

- 

June, 

1852 

Orville     Dewey 

Dec, 

1852 

- 

July, 

1853 

Moncure  D.  Conway 

1854 

- 

1856 

Wm.    D.    Haley 

1858 

- 

1861 

William  H.  Channing 

1861 

- 

1865 

Rufus  P.  Stebbins 

1865 

6 

months 

William    Sharman 

1868 

- 

1870 

Frederic     Hinckley 

1870 

- 

1875 

Clay    MacCauley 

1877 

- 

1880 

Rush   R.   Shippen 

1881 

- 

1895 

E.  Bradford  Leavitt 

1897 

- 

1900 

Ulysses  G.  B.  Pierce 

1901 

- 

[146] 


APPENDIX 

Trustef-s  of  First  Church 

1823. 
W.  W.  Seaton  Richard  Wallach 

Charles   Bulfinch  John  Bailey 

Committee  of  Management. 
Charles  Bulfinch  W.  W.  Seaton 

Benjamin  Thomas  Pishey  Thompson 

P.  Mauro  Moses  Poor 

George  W.  May 

1826. 

Trustees. 
Charles  Bulfinch  W.  W.  Seaton 

Joseph  Gales^  Jr. 

1829. 
Trustees. 
Charles  Bulfinch  W.  W.  Seaton 

Joseph  Gales,  Jr. 
Committee  of  Management. 
T.  B.  Barrel  Charles  S.  Fowler 

William  Cranch 

1835. 
Committee  of  Management. 
William  Cranch  William  G.  Eliot 

Joseph  Gales 

1838. 
Committee  of  Management. 
William  Cranch  Pishey  Thompson 

Joseph  Gales  W.  G.  Eliot 

[147] 


APPENDIX 


Trustees  of  All  Souls  Church 

. 1877-78. 
Henry  A.  Willard  Gen.  L.  H.  Pelouze 

Dr.  J.  H.  Baxter  Dr.  W.  F.  Wallace 

Dr.  R.  A.  Bacon  George  B.  Clark 

W.  P.  Dunwoody  I.  P-  Libby 

W.  C.  Murdock 


1878-79. 
Wm.  C,  Murdock  Reuben  A.  Bacon 

Col.  Jedediah  H.  Baxter       Henry  A.  Willard 
George  B.  Clark  Wm.  P.  Dunwoody 

Justice  Samuel  F.  Miller     Gen.  Geo.  F.  Cutter 
Com.   Isaiah  Hanscom 
W.  P.  Dunwoody,  Secretary 
Dr.  W.  F.  Wallace,  Treasurer 

1879-80. 
Henry  A.  Willard  George  B.  Clark 

Wm.  P.  Dunwoody  Justice  Samuel  F.  Miller 

Paymaster  Gen.  Geo.  F.  Cutter 
Com,  Isaiah  Hanscom  W.  Scott  Smith 

Col.  John  Cassels  Dr.  W.  F.  Wallace 

1880-81. 
Justice  Samuel  F.  Miller      Gen.  Geo.  F.  Cutter 
Hon.  Wm.  E.  Chandler         Col.  John  Cassels 
W.  Scott  Smith  Dr.  W.  F.  Wallace 

Henry  A.  Willard  Col.  J.  H.  Baxter 

W.  C.  Murdock 
[148] 


APPENDIX 

1881-82. 
W.  Scott  Smith,  Chairman 
John  Cassels  Dr.  W.  F.  Wallace 

Col.  J.  H.  Baxter  H.  A.  Willard 

W.  C.  Murdock  Hon,  W.  A.  Richardson 

Geo.  E.  Baker  W.  P.  Dunwoody 

J.  B.  T.  Tupper,  Secretary 
H.  B.  Bennett,  Treasurer 

1882-83. 
W.  P.  Dunwoody,  Chairman 
Col.  J.  H.  Baxter  H.  A.  Willard 

W.  C.  Murdock  Hon.  W.  A.  Richardson 

Geo.  E.  Baker  Hon.  Wm.  E.  Chandler 

Dr.  Geo.   N.  French  O.  R.  Merrill 

B.  R.  Green,  Secretary 
Geo.  A.  King,  Treasurer 

1883-84. 
Geo.  E.  Baker,  Chairman 
Hon.  W.  A.  Richardson       W.  P.  Dunwoody 
Hon.  W.  E.  Chandler  Dr.  Geo.  N.  French 

O.  R.  Merrill  Justice  S.  F.  Miller 

S.  R.  Bond  Bernard  R.  Green 

Wm.  J.  Canby,  Secretary 
Geo.  A.  King,  Treasurer 

1884-85. 
Bernard  R.  Green,  Chairman 
Hon.  Wm.  E.  Chandler         Dr.  Geo.  N.  French 
O.  R.  Merrill  Justice  S.  F.  Miller 

S.  R.  Bond  Hon.  Dorman  B.  Eaton 

Dr.  John  Edwin  Mason       H.  B.  Bennett 
[149] 


APPENDIX 

1885-86. 
Bernard  R.  Green,  Chairman 
Justice  S.  F.  Miller  S.  R.  Bond 

Hon.  Dorman  B.  Eaton         Dr.  John  Edwin  Mason 
H.  B.  Bennett  Wm.  P.  Dunwoody 

Maj.  S.  Willard  Saxton       Prof.  Edward  A.  Fay 

1886-87. 
Geo.  A.  King,  Chairman 
Dr.  T.  H.  Sherwood  Dr.  John  Edwin  Mason 

H.  B.  Bennett  Wm.  P.  Dunwoody 

Maj.  S.  Willard  Saxton        Prof.  Edward  A.  Fay 
John  R.  Gisburne  Wm.  A.  Richardson 

Wm.  J.  Canby,  Secretary 
Chas.  W.  Hills,  Treasurer 

1887-88. 
Geo.  A.  King,  Chairman 
Prof.  Edward  A.  Fay  Robt.  S.  Fletcher 

William    Hutchinson  Wm.  A.  Richardson 

John  R.  Gisburne  James  B.  T.  Tupper 

William  Brough  Harvey  Spalding 

Wm.  J.  Canby,  Secretary 
Dr.  Geo.  N.  French,  Treasurer 

1888-89. 
Geo.  A.  King,  Chairman 
James  B.  T.  Tupper  Wm.  A.  Richardson 

William  Brough  John  R.  Gisburne 

Edward  C.  Seward  Harvey  Spalding 

Samuel  R.  Bond  Bernard  R.  Green 

1889-90. 
Samuel  R.  Bond,  Chairman 
James  B.  T.  Tupper  William  Brough 

[150] 


APPENDIX 

Harvey  Spalding  Edward  C.  Seward 

Bernard  R.  Green  Charles  W.  Hills 

Gen.  A.  W.  Greely  Prof.  Edward  A.  Fay 

1890-91. 
Samuel  R.  Bond,  Chairman 
Bernard  R.  Green  Maj.  S.  Willard  Saxton 

Charles  W.  Hills  Gen.  A.  W.  Greely 

Prof.  Edward  A.  Fay  Myron  M.  Parker 

William  Hutchinson  Hon.  Carroll  D.  Wright 

Dr.  Thos.  H.  Sherwood,  Secretary 
Dr.  Geo.  N.  French,  Treasurer 

1891-92. 
Henry  F.  Blount,  Chairman 
Geo.  A.  King  Hon.  Wm.  A.  Richardson 

Myron  M.  Parker  Wm.  Hutchinson 

Hon.  Carroll  D.  Wright       Charles  W.  HiUs 
Prof.  Edward  A.  Fay  Gen.  A.  W.  Greely 

1892-93. 
Hon.  Carroll  D.  Wright,  Chairman 
W^illiam  Hutchinson  Myron  M.  Parker 

Henry  F.  Blount  Geo.  A.  King 

Samuel  R.  Bond  Wm.  A.  Richardson 

Dr.  A.  B.  Jameson  Bernard  R.  Green 

1893-94. 
Samuel  R.  Bond.  Chairman 
Henry  F.  Blount  Geo.  A.  King 

Wm.  A.  Richardson  Bernard  R.  Green 

Dr.  A.  B.  Jameson  George  A.  Bacon 

Nathan  Bickford  Gen.  C.  H.  Smith 

[151] 


APPENDIX 

1894-95. 
Bernard  R.  Green,  Chairman 
Samuel  R.  Bond  Dr.  A,  B.  Jameson 

J.  B.  T.  Tupper  Prof.  Wm.  B.  Powell 

George  A.  Bacon  Gen.  C.  H.  Smith 

Gren.  Rufus  Saxton  George  Doolittle 

Wm.  Cyril  Keech.  Secretary 
Dr.  Geo.  N.  French,  Treasurer 

1895-96. 
Hon.  Carroll  D.  Wright,  Chairman 
Mrs.  M.  H.  Doolittle  Henry  F.  Blount 

Prof.  Edward  A.  Fay  Mrs.   Blanche  Woodward 

George  Doolittle  George  A.  Bacon 

Gen.  C.  H.  Smith  Gen.  Rufus  Saxton 

1896-97. 
Hon.  Carroll  D.  Wright,  Chairman 
Mrs.  M.  H.  Doolittle  Henry  F.  Blount 

Prof.  Edward  A.  Fay  Mrs.  Thomas  M.  Gale 

George  Doolittle  James  F.  Hood 

Henry  K.  Willard  Bernard  R.  Green  > 

1897-98. 
Hon.  Carroll  D.  Wright,  Chairman 
Mrs.  M.  H.  Doolittle  Henry  F.  Blount 

James  F.  Hood  Henry  K.  Willard 

Bernard  R.  Green  Geo.  A.  King 

Mrs.  J.  G.  Walker  Mrs.  Thos.  E.  Hatch 

1898-99. 
Bernard  R.  Green,  Chairman 
James  F.  Hood  Henry  K.  Willard 

[152] 


APPENDIX 


Geo.  A.  King 

Mrs.  Thos.  E.  Hatch 

Gen.  Chas.  H.  Smith 


Mrs.  J.  G.  Walker 
Mrs.  Lucia  E.  Blount 
James  A.  Sample 


Geo. 
Mrs.  J.  G.  Walker 
Wm.  P.  Robinson 
Jas.  A.  Sample 
Prof.  Wm.  H.  Ball 


1899-1900. 

A.  King,  Chairman 

Mrs.  Thos.  E.  Hatch 
Mrs.  Lucia  E.  Blount 
Prof.  Edward  A.  Fay 
Prof.  F.  W.  Clarke 


1900-01. 
Bernard  R.  Green,  Chairman 
Mrs.  Thos.  M.  Gale  Mrs.  Mary  H.  White 

Prof.  Edward  A.  Fay  Prof.  F.  W.  Clarke 

Prof.  Wm.  H.  Dall  Wm.  P.  Robinson 

Mrs.  Lucia  E.  Blount  James  A.  Sample 

1901-02". 
Bernard  R.  Green,  Chairman 
Mrs.  Thos.  M.  Gale  Mrs.  Mary  H.  "White 

Prof.  Edward  A.  Fay  Prof.  F.  W.  Clarke 

Prof.  Wm.  H.  Dall  Mrs.  Jennie  W.  Scudder 

Dt.  Henry  A.  Stokes  Geo.  A.  King 


1902-03. 
Bernard  R.  Green,  Chairman 
Mrs.  Thos.  M.  Gale  Mrs.  Mary  H.  "White 

Mrs.  Jennie  W.  Scudder       Dr.  Henry  A.  Stokes 
Geo.  A.  King  Henry  F.  Blount 

J.  B.  T.  Tupper  E.  B.  Eynon,  Sr. 

[153] 


APPENDIX 

1903-04. 
Geo.  A.  King,  Chairman 
Mrs.  Jennie  W.  Scudder       Dr.  Henry  A.  Stokes 
James  A.  Sample  Henry  F.  Blount 

J.  B.  T.  Tupper  E.  B.  Eynon,  Sr. 

Charles  W.  Hills  Mrs.  John  G.  Walker 

George  A.  Bacon,  Secretary 
Dr.  Geo.  N.  French,  Treasurer 

1904-05. 
James  A.  Sample,  Chairman 
Henry  F.  Blount  J.  B.  T.  Tupper 

Edward  B.  Eynon,  Sr.         Charles  W.  Hills 
Mrs.  John  G.  Walker  James  F.  Hood 

Chauncey  C.  Williams  Dr.  Isaac  S.  Stone 

William  H.  Lemon,  Secretary 
Dr.  Geo.  N.  French,  Treasurer 

1905-06. 
James  A.  Sample,  Chairman, 
Charles  W.  Hills  Mrs.  John  G.  Walker 

James  F.  Hood  Chauncey  C.  Williams 

Dr.  Isaac  S.  Stone  Mrs.  Thos.  M.  Gale 

William  B.  Todd  Maxwell  V.  WoodhuU 

1906-07. 
Bernard  R.  Green,  Chairman 
James  F.  Hood  Chauncey  C.  Williams 

Dr.  Isaac  S.  Stone  Mrs.  Thos.  M.  Gale 

William  B.  Todd  Maxwell  V.  WoodhuU 

Robert  S.  Woodward  Dr.  Truman  Abbe 

1907-08. 
Gen.   Maxwell  V.  WoodhuU,  Chairman 
Mrs.  Thos.  M.  Gale  William  B.  Todd 

[154] 


APPENDIX 

Bernard  R.  Green  Dr.  Robert  S.  Woodward 

Dr.  Truman  Abbe  Mrs.  Thos.   M.  WoodrufF 

George   N.   Brown  Delbert  H.  Decker 

Archibald  King,  Secretary 
Charles   E.   Hood,  Treasurer 

1908-09. 
Bernard  R.  Green,  Chairman 
Dr.  Robert  S.  Woodward      Dr.  Truman  Abbe 
Mrs,  Thos.  M.  WoodrufF       George  N.   Brown 
Delbert  H.  Decker  Mrs.  Henry  F.  Blount 

William  H.  Lemon  John  Mason  Boutwell 

1909-10. 
James   A.   Sample,   Chairman 
Mrs.  Thos.  M.  Woodruff       George  N.   Brown 
Delbert  H.  Decker  Mrs.  Henry  F.  Blount 

William  H.  Lemon  John  Mason  Boutwell 

James  F.  Hood  Louis  A.  Simon 

1910-11. 
James   A.   Sample,   Chairman 
Mrs.  Henry  F.  Blount  William  H.  Lemon 

John  Mason  Boutwell  James  F.  Hood 

Louis  A.  Simon  Mrs.  Thos.  M.  Gale 

Hon.  Duncan  U.  Fletcher     William  J.  Eynon 

1911-12. 
James   A.   Sample,   Chairman 
James  F.  Hood  Louis  A.  Simon 

Mrs.  Thos.  ^L  Gale  Hon.   Duncan  U.   Fletcher 

Mrs.  Whitman  Cross  Mrs.  Thos.  M.  Woodruff 

Louis  H.  Stabler  Gen.  Maxwell  V.  WoodhuU 

[155] 


APPENDIX 

1912-13. 
Hon.  Duncan  U.  Fletcher,  Chairman 
Mrs.  Thos.  M.  Gale  Mrs.  Whitman  Cross 

Mrs.  Thos.  M.  WoodrufF     Louis  H.  Stabler 
Gen.  Maxwell  V.  WoodhuU    Hon.  Martin  A.  Knapp 
Daniel  Douty  Dr.  James  M.  Flint 

1913-14. 
Hon.  Martin  A.  Knapp,  Chairman 
Gen.  Maxwell  V.  WoodhuU  Louis  H.  Stabler 
Dr.  James  M.  Flint  Miss  Edith  Totten 

Mrs.  Frederic  A.  Holton       Hon.  Myron  M.  Parker 
Louis  A.  Simon  Mrs.  F.  W.  Clarke 

1914-15. 
Hon.  Martin  A.  Knapp,  Chairman 
Dr.  James  M.  Flint  Hon.  Myron  M.   Parker 

Mrs.  Frederic  A.  Holton       Louis  A.  Simon 
Mrs.  Frank  W.  Clarke  Herndon    Morsell 

Edward  B.  Eynon,  Sr.  Archibald  King 

S.  Jay  Teller.  Secretary 
Charles  E,  Hood,  Treasurer 

1915-16. 
Louis  A.  Simon,  Chairman 
Mrs.  Frederic  A.  Holton       Mrs.  Frank  W.  Clarke 
Herndon  Morsell  Edward  B.  Eynon,  Sr. 

Archibald  King  Mrs.  Whitman  Cross 

H.  Barrett  Learned  John  C.   Scofield 

1916-17. 
H.  Barrett  Learned,  Chairman 
Edward  B.  Eynon,  Sr.  Archibald  King 

Herndon  Morsell  Mrs.  Whitman  Cross 

[156] 


APPENDIX 

John  C.  Scofield  Julius  Garfinkle 

Frank  S.  Hight  Mrs.  Caleb  S.  Miller 

1917-18. 
H.  Barrett  Learned,  Chairman 
Mrs.  Whitman  Cross  John  C.  Scofield 

Julius  Garfinkle  Frank  S.  Hight 

Mrs.   Caleb  S.   Miller  Nathaniel  Hersbler 

William  F.  Roberts  Mrs.  Thos.  M.  Woodruff 

1918-19. 
William  F.  Roberts,  Chairman 
Mrs.  Caleb  S.   Miller  Nathaniel  Hersbler 

F.  S.  Hight  Julius  Garfinkle 

Mrs,  Joseph  Stewart  William  L.  Brown 

Mrs.  Thos.  M.  Woodruff       James   C.   Robertson 
Louis  A.  Simon,  vice  W.  F.  Roberts,  resigned 

1919-20. 
Louis  A.  Simon,  Chairman 
Mrs.  Joseph  Stewart  William  L.  Brown 

Julius  Garfinkle  Geo.  A.  Ricker 

Mrs.  Duncan  U.  Fletcher     Mrs.  Thos.  M.  Woodruff 
James   C.   Robertson  Charles  E.  Hood 

Mrs.  C.  C.  Williams,  vice  Mrs.  Woodruff,  resigned. 
Major  Leonard  S.  Doten,  vice  Mrs.  Williams,  resigned. 
Martin  M.   Kallman,  vice  Mrs.  Fletcher,  resigned. 
Major  Archibald   King,  vice  James   C.   Robertson,  re- 
signed. 

1920-21. 
George  A.  Ricker,  Chairman 
William  L.  Brown  Dr.  Julia  M.  Green 

Charles  E.  Hood  Hon.  Martin  A.  Knapp 

[157] 


APPENDIX 

Jessie  B.  Stewart  Col.  M.  M.  Parker 

M.  M.  Kallman  Capt.     Leonard    S.    Doten, 

Archibald  King,  vice  M.  M.  Kallman 

1921-22. 
George  A.  Ricker,  Chairman 
Capt.  Leonard  S.  Doten       Dr.  Julia  M.  Green 
Charles  E.  Hood  Dr.  Percival  Hall 

J.  E.  Jones  Martin  A.  Knapp 

Miss  Helen  Nicolay  Col.  M.  M.  Parker 

1922-23. 
Dr.  Percival  Hall,  Chairman 
Julius  Garfinkle  Herndon  Morsell 

Dr.  Julia  M.  Green  Miss  Catherine  A.  Newton 

J.  E.  Jones  Miss  Helen  Nicolay 

Martin  A.  Knapp  Laurence  C.  Staples 

Elmer  Stewart,  Treasurer 
Charles  B.  Bryant,  Secretary 


[158] 


APPENDIX 


Building  Notes 

The  trustees  of  the  church  when  All  Souls  was  built 
at  Fourteenth  and  L  Streets,  in  1877,  were: 

Henry  A.  Willard,  Chairman 
Gen.  L.  H.  Pelouze  Dr.  J.  H.  Baxter 

Dr.  W.  F.  Wallace  Dr.  R.  A.  Bacon 

George  B.   Clark  W.  P.  Dunwoody 

W.  C.  Murdock  I.  P.  Libby 

The  Building  Committee  consisted  of  Henry  A.  Wil- 
lard,  George  B.  Clark  and  Isaiah  Hanscom.  The  archi- 
tect was  R.  G.  Russell,  of  New  Haven,  Connecticut. 
The  church  was  built  on  the  model  of  a  church  in  New 
Haven,  designed  by  Mr.  Russell.  The  builder  of  All 
Souls  Church  was  Col.  Robert  I.  Fleming,  of  Washing- 
ton, D.  C. 

The  committee  from  the  church  in  charge  of  erection 
of  the  industrial  building  at  14th  and  L  Streets  in  1920 
consisted  of  George  A.  Ricker,  Chairman  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees,  John  C.  Scofield  and  Charles  E.  Hood. 

The  contractors  were  the  Boyle-Robertson  Construc- 
tion Company  of  Washington,  D.  C.  The  building  was 
completed  and  formally  opened  on  January  18,  1921, 
and  in  July,  1922,  it  was  sold  for  $350,000. 

Ground  was  broken  for  the  new  All  Souls  Church  and 
Edward  Everett  Hale  Memorial  Parish  House  at  Six- 
teenth and  Harvard  Streets,  September  8,  1921.  The 
Br.ilding  Committee  at  that  time  consisted  of  George  A. 
Flicker,  Chairman;  Dr.  Percival  Hall  and  Captain  Leon- 
rad  S.  Doten,  members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees;  and 
[159] 


APPENDIX 

Advisory  Members  from  the  congregation  as  follows: 
William  L.  Brown,  Julius  Garfinkle,  Mrs.F.  A.  Holton, 
Mrs.  Richard  Fay  Jackson,  Mrs.  H.  Barrett  Learned, 
John  C.  Scofield,  W.  B.  Todd,  Dr.  U.  G.  B.  Pierce,  ex- 
officio.  This  Committee  adopted  the  plan  of  a  limited 
competition  for  the  selection  of  the  architects. 

The  Building  Committee,  named  in  the  spring  of 
1922,  consisted  of  Dr.  Percival  Hall,  Chairman;  Julius 
Garfinkle  and  Dr.  Julia  Green,  members  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees;  George  A.  Ricker  and  Captain  Leonard 
S.  Doten. 
Architects : 

Coolidge  &  Shattuck,  Ames  Building,  Boston 
Frederick  E.  Marcus,  Clerk  of  Work 
Builders : 

The   Boyle-Robertson  Construction  Co.,  Washing- 
ton, D.  C. 
W.  S.  Morgan,  Superintendent. 


[160] 


APPENDIX 


Bequests 

Several  bequests  have  been  made  to  the  church.  The 
first  noted  is  that  of  $1,000  by  Mr.  John  Hitz  for  the 
provision  of  suitable  music. 

In  1892,  Dr.  Jayne  left  his  library  to  All  Souls. 
Some  of  it  was  absorbed  in  the  church  library,  and  the 
remainder  otherwise  disposed  of. 

In  1893,  the  sum  of  $500  was  received  from  the 
estate  of  Dr.  J.  Edwin  Mason. 

In  1897,  a  bequest  of  $174'2  was  received  from  James 
Brackett  through  the  American  Unitarian  Association. 

By  his  will  dated  in  1892,  Capt.  Frank  E.  Brownell 
made  All  Souls  Church  residuary  legatee.  In  1916,  the 
sum  of  $4,897.97  was  received  from  this  source,  its  in- 
come to  be  used  for  the  charities  of  the  church,  and  in 
May,  1922,  an  additional  sum  of  $4,800.72  became  avail- 
able. 

In  1915,  Mrs.  Fannie  S.  Reynolds  bequeathed  to  the 
church  $864.42.  This  was  made  up  to  $1,000  by  the 
trustees  and  invested  as  The  Fannie  S.  Reynolds  Fund. 

In  1918,  Mr.  Zebina  Moses  left  to  the  church  $5,000, 
the  income  of  which  was  to  be  used  "to  aid  the  Church 
in  maintaining  a  high  grade  of  music." 

Mrs.  Florence  Tryon  Baxter,  who  died  in  1914,  made 
All  Souls  Church  residuary  legatee.  After  a  few  years, 
the  sum  of  $40,183  came  into  the  possession  of  the  trus- 
tees, "to  be  invested  and  re-invested  in  perpetuity"  by 
them,  the  income  to  constitute  a  fund  to  be  devoted  an- 
nually to  charitable  work  connected  with  All  Souls 
Church. 

[161] 


APPENDIX 

In  1920,  Miss  Ellen  Marian  Elizabeth  WoodhuU  left 
$4,000  to  All  Souls  as  an  Endowment  Fund  for  the  pur- 
pose of  the  upkeep  of  the  church. 

In  addition  to  the  "WoodhuU  Fund"  indicated  above, 
All  Souls  Church  is  to  receive  the  income  from  an  ad- 
ditional Fund  provided  in  the  will  of  Miss  E.  M.  E. 
WoodhuU,  and  when  this  is  available  it  will  furnish 
approximately  $5,000  a  year  revenue  to  the  Church, 
a  considerable  portion  of  which  may  be  used  for  general 
purposes  when  the  new  Church  building  is  occupied. 

In  October,  1921,  the  church  received  a  bequest  of 
$800  for  charities,  from  Mrs.  Sarah  E.  Stevens.  In 
addition,  Mrs.  Stevens  left  a  sum  now  amounting  to 
$175  for  "some  separate  picture  or  equipment  for  the 
new  Church." 


[162] 


APPENDIX 


Memorial  Windows 

1881 
Window  presented  to  All  Souls  Church  by  Hon.  W.  A. 
Richardson  in  memory  of  his  wife,  Anna  M.  Rich- 
ardson. 

1882 
Window    presented    by    Francis    Ormond    French    in 
memory     of     his     mother,     Elizabeth     Richardson 
French. 


1883 
Window  presented  by  Mrs.  John  Cassels  in  memory  of 
her    father   and  mother.  Arthur  W.   Fletcher   and 
Elizabeth  J.  Fletcher. 


1886 
Window  presented  by  Hon.  Wm.   B.  Webb  and  Miss 
Charlotte   E.  Webb,  in   memory   of  their  parents, 
John  F.  Webb  and  Charlotte  Ann  Webb. 


1887 
Window  presented  by  George  P.  Baker  in  memory  of 
his  father,  George  E,  Baker. 


1893 
Window  presented  by  Mary  Bellows  Gardner  in  mem- 
ory of  her  brother,  Dr.  Augustus  Kinsley  Gardner. 
[163] 


APPENDIX 

1897 
Window  presented  by  Arthur  Fletcher,  Margaret  Gib- 
son, Elsie  and  James  Donald  Cassels,  in  memory  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Charles  S.  Fowler. 


1897 
Window  given  by  Albertine  L.  Houston  in  memory  of 
her  husband,  James  D.  Houston. 


1900 
Window   presented  by   Maxwell  Van  Zandt  WoodhuU, 
Miss  Ellen  M.  Woodhull  and  Charles  Woodhull  in 
memory  of  their  mother,  Mrs.  Helen  Frances  Wood- 
hull. 

1910 
Two    windows    presented    by    Henry    K.    Willard    in 
memory    of    parents,    Mr.    and    Mrs.    Henry    A. 
Willard. 

Tablets 

John  Purdy 

General  L.  H.  Pelouze 

Commander  Isaiah  Hanscom 

William  C.  Murdock 

Reuben  Bacon 

Susan  Dorr  Willard 

Zoe  Rodman  Shippen 

William  A.  Widney 


[164] 


BX9834  .W3A4  S4 

A  century  of  Unitarianism  in  the 


Princeton  Theological  Semmary-Speer  Library 


1012  00021   2466 


